Enough with This Gravity Moving Already!
by LostWolfGirl
Summary: Quil and teenage Claire's relationship evolves from big brother to more.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Enough with This Gravity Moving Already!

Published: 02-04-09, Last Updated: 06-07-09

Chapters: 36, Words: 64,070

A/N: I originally posted this story what feels like a million years ago, in a continent far away, on an account I can no longer get access to. I didn't have the energy to read and edit it all but since I've had many requests for the chapters I thought it worth re-posting.

* * *

Chapter 1: Claire- Xtreme Sand Castling

* * *

"Oh come on, Claire," he bellowed. I didn't want to look at him, I was in a pissy mood and if I looked at him now I would feel guilty, give in and have to play nice. We had spent the afternoon wordlessly sketching interesting looking leaves in the woods surrounding my high school.

To be honest, I wasn't all that broken up about him ditching my Makah Center art exhibit weekend before. Quil and my mom had been there from the second doors opened, which was enough for me. It just so happened that today, one of the few days a week that I get to see my boyfriend Adrian, I was in a bratty mood.

"Claire, I do all of your Makah things," Adrian argued, smiling his stupid irresistible dimpled smile.

"I know… fine, whatever," I said finally giving in and smiling weakly as we turned the corner to my house.

"Are you coming in or what?" I asked when we reached the foot of my stairs. Adrian had paused hesitantly, looking down at his scruffy old converse.

"Yeah, sure… um, is your _Uncle_ Quil here for the weekend?" he asked sheepishly.

He was simultaneously jealous and terrified of Quil and I couldn't blame him. Quil was a head taller than him and built like a brick wall— he was also extremely protective of me. Adrian, my lanky boyfriend, with the dirty mind and roaming hands had a lot to feel guilty about.

"I mean no offense, but your uncle terrifies me. He's just… too big, it ain't normal."

"First of all Quil's not my _uncle_ and he's totally normal sized!" I accentuated _normal_ with a poke to his ribs. Adrian had a habit of calling Quil my uncle, as if to point out I shouldn't be having the lusty-lust for him, which I so obviously did.

"Secondly, he should be here so you better behave." I had to hold back a smile when I saw him cringe from the corner of my eye.

He had a lot more than Quil's size to worry about and he didn't even know. Quil, my super great (and undeniably sexy) best friend, the werewolf, didn't just look like he could crush him with one hand, he could destroy him with all of his mystical wolfiness without breaking a sweat.

I grabbed Adrian and dragged him inside, calling to my mom as I entered. I found her in the living room, attempting to help Quil as he built the new entertainment center she bought at IKEA. I swear I caught her checking him out as we entered the room, but she straightened up quickly. It annoyed me but I didn't blame her really, he was shirtless and as I said, built like a brick wall.

"Hey kids," she said huskily as we entered. I bit the inside of my cheek to suppress a giggle, but the look Quil gave me from behind her back forced me to dash out the room before I collapsed in hysterics.

My parents divorced about three years ago— _Irreconcilable Differences_ — which meant my young (by old people standards) and attractive mom was on the prowl. Who best to fill my mother's fantasies than the outrageously sexy confidante of her sixteen (soon to be seventeen) year old daughter?

I used to suspect the divorce was because of Quil, I even remember hearing snippets of whispered conversations between my mom and Aunt Emily. I hated him for it, but only for like a day, I can't stay mad at Quil. It's been three years though, and he's spent more time hanging out me and my sister than my mom.

This was an oddity of Quil's that I absolutely could not live without, his complete aversion to grownups and growing up. I'm not talking about the werewolf stuff, which made it physically impossible to age— I'm talking his fun loving, kid-ness. I mean, he looks to be in his mid-twenties, so adults trust him, but he still lets you eat cold pizza for breakfast when your parents are away. This, in my opinion, would also make him the best boyfriend in the world but I digress.

"I think Quil's gay," I voiced my fear as casually as possible once we were in my bedroom.

It wasn't that I had a problem with gay people, I love them. I totally support them, it's just that if Quil actually is gay there was NO HOPE. I mean there's just something exponentially more pathetic about lusting after a gay man that just takes the fun out of it.

"What? That's so random, Claire," he laughed as he settled on my carpeted floor. Adrian's grin was wide, I knew all too well he would be thrilled if Quil came out of the closest, he'd probably escort him to the Gay pride parade himself.

"It's not random. Seriously, the facts are these: he's a twenty-something, pardon me, hottie with no girlfriend. In fact, he has no prior history of girlfriends. He has, for a lack of better words, a MILF constantly throwing herself at him... and finally, I have pictures of him playing pretty-princess-tea-party with me, in full DRAG. There is no other explanation," I stated, as if I were presenting scientific research.

I had been thinking about it a lot recently. Not in the way I used to, lying awake at heavy sighing like only a tween could ( _Oh Quil, why don't you love me you big dreamy werewolf?_ ), much more objectively now. I had become increasingly more curious about Quil lately. Quil was woven in to whole fabric of my life. He knew almost everything about me but there was so much I didn't know about him. What he did do when I wasn't around? I wanted to know about his past, his dreams, what he really thought of me… did he think of me?

"Quil is a _hottie_ , huh?" Adrian's eyebrows bounced. I knew he would catch that.

"Well you know, he's got that whole forest-man chic thing going for him," I smiled kissing him lightly.

He pushed me back behind the slit I left in my door and pressed me to the floor with the weight of his body. We weren't having sex yet but at times when hands and rubbing got heated I thought that maybe we should. I can't say I wasn't curious and most of my friends had, but it made me nervous. He caressed my face before allowing his hand to travel down the center of my breast. As if on cue Quil knocked giving us a second to separate before he barged in.

Adrian lived in Forks a small town not too far from my reservation, but far enough to keep my "pale face" from seeing me every day. And though I'd rather see Quil than anyone else on the whole planet, it was annoying to be interrupted.

"Hey, real quick," Quil said casually, while his eyes narrowed on Adrian. "Your mom said you got in an epic battle with Lana today, you okay?"

Ugh! My sister Lana was the reason for today's dark cloudy funk. She's generally a pain in the ass but today she was rampant plague, spreading wide-ranging malaise wherever she went. Lana didn't get accepted to some college she was counting on and that meant she was determined to make everyone pay.

"Yea, but I hate her," I proclaimed. Quil, took that as an invite to plop soundlessly next to me on the floor and pat me comfortingly on the back.

"I gotta go," Adrian said quickly, avoiding Quil's eyes as he planted a swift kiss on my lips and headed out the room.

"Stop doing that!" I hissed, playfully hitting Quil's bicep, hurting my own hand in the process.

I shook my hand out, wincing as I followed Adrian to the door. "You don't have to go," I said pouting in the doorway dutifully, although the idea of a free afternoon with Quil was intoxicating.

"I do, my parents sorta think I'm doing a summer school thing. I'm not really allowed out of the house besides that," he did his whole mischievous grin thing, which I noticed didn't make me all gooey like it did when we first met. _Not a big deal really, it doesn't mean I don't like him anymore, right?_ I never liked gooey anyways.

"What did you do?" I asked accusingly.

"You know… some of this, some of that." He kissed me again, this time with more force and turned to go, leaving me pondering my feelings in the doorway as he left. I grew up with a pack of werewolves, it won't come as a surprise if I say I'm not good at expressing feelings.

I turned after a while to find Quil, holding an ice tray and staring at me strangely. I tried to analyze it: worried or maybe pained? I didn't have time to decide because just then Lana came barging through the door, almost pushing me to the floor. Quil caught me, flashing a dangerous look at Lana, who was way too far in Lana Land to notice.

He handed me a paper towel with two cubes of ice folded in it and pointed to my hand which still throbbed from hitting his rock hard bicep. He was just so damn sweet sometimes, which was killing my "Get-over-Quil-it's-never-going-to-happen" and "Stop-mentally-cheating-on-Adrian" campaigns.

For the last two months, all intimate moments with Adrian were interrupted with images and fantasies of Quil, which was when I decided to take action. I immediately created the "Get-over-Quil-it's-never-going-to-happen" and "Stop-mentally-cheating-on-Adrian" campaigns, which were a list of rules I was required to follow in order to keep the inappropriate yet oh-so-yummy thoughts at bay.

"Whatcha wanna do tonight, kid?" I hated when he called me that, didn't he see my fully bloomed-ness? I was woman now… other than my breasty area, which I feel are at least adequate! Why hadn't he noticed?

"You staying over? I'm sure mom will be pleased," I said lifting my eyebrows theatrically.

"If you want me to... might be good to have a buffer between you and Queen Lana today. What's up with her, girly things?" _Girly things_ and _women business_ were the general code words he used for all things related to women that made him uncomfortable.

"Another school rejection, somewhere in California I think. So, how bout we escape to La Push?" I suggested wondering who was watching the store today. Quil's mom Joy sold him her corner store about five years back when she retired to Florida for fun in the sun, and now he had a rotating staff of werewolves.

"Okay, what you wanna do there?" He was running his hands through his hair, which made the muscles on his torso more painfully obvious. I thought that if I was a cartoon character my eyes would be bulging out of my head right now and I might have a large trailing line of drool, but I tried to pull my staring off as contemplation.

"Who's taking care of the store?" I asked distractedly.

"Seth and Michael. What, you wanna work the counter today? It's really nice outside, I'm sure we could find something better than that," he said as he slipped on brown leather sandals and a white tee.

"Oh, yeah... I was thinking about seeing Aunt Emily, and maybe some Xtreme sand castle building, you up for it?"

"Extreme sand castle building?" His face was quizzical, but also slightly worried.

"Yeah, well things sound cooler when you put Xtreme in front of them… snowboarding for example," I reasoned. He laughed his barky laugh and I continued, "you think it will catch on?"

"Well… what sort of uniforms would you wear? And is there any fire involved, because that could significantly affect its rise in popularity."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Claire- Those Chicken Breasts Thingys

* * *

Emily and Sam's house was ridiculously crammed with people, as usual, and lunchtime was in full swing which meant it was not a time good time to get near the kitchen.

Werewolves are ferociously hungry 65% of the day, and your limbs were never completely safe when they were on a binge. Quil brought a plate with a sandwich and cookies to me in the living room where I sat with Emily. I often wondered how they could afford to feed all of these monster sized men. Werewolving wasn't (last I checked) a terribly high paying job, but it felt rude to ask. I knew that Embry and one of the younger wolves, Solace, worked on cars and that Sam, Jared and Paul worked construction but it just didn't really seem plausible.

"How've you been Claire-bear, too busy with Adrian to come here and visit me and your cousins?" Emily asked, rubbing my knee as I picked apart my sandwich. No one had called me Claire-bear in years, which I had counted as a blessing.

"Yeah," I didn't try to sugar-coat things with Emily. I had been spending a lot of time with Adrian.

"Wow, things getting hot and heavy then?" Her voice was playful, but not her eyes, which flashed towards the kitchen and back at me.

"Sorta..."

"You gotta give me more than one word answers here kid," she said genuinely smiling this time.

"Well, I mean they are, but I'm not all that swoony about it anymore," I confessed and followed her eyes to Quils' back. I remembered that the wolves had better than average sense of smell, but I wasn't sure about their hearing.

"So you're not into him anymore?" She asked her eyes indisputably excited now.

"It's not that, I mean, I don't know. I guess not, I'm really sort of into someone else, but it's complicated," I said focusing on keeping my eyes from straying back to Quil. I secretly wished he would hear it and get the hint, which would of course lead to him pledging his undying love for me. When I dream, I dream big but I didn't elaborate. Emily was a super cool aunt but I was pretty sure she would be creeped out with my complete devotion and desire for Quil, who had practically raised me. These feelings, explicitly forbidden in accordance with my "Get-over-Quil-it's-never-going-to-happen" campaign guidelines, were not to be shared with anyone.

"What, does he have a girlfriend or something?" She asked softly.

"No, but it's just not gunna happen, ya know?" Quil came in then and I sprung off the couch, smiling dumbly.

"Ready for some xtreme sand castling?" He asked offering a swelteringly hot hand.

When we got to the beach I toyed with the idea of stripping to my swim suit all seductively, but then realized I was more likely to make a fool of myself then to turn him on. He found us a nice large plot, spreading out a sheet and all of my equipment.

I seen this special on Dateline about sand art and wanted to try it, but now, doing it with Quil I felt like an idiot. It's not easy to look all mature and grown up when you're building a sand castle with kids plastic beach buckets, even if it is the super coolest castle you've ever seen. I was happy to see Quil brought his camera though, and I snapped a shot of him as he smoothed out a large beach towel for us.

It was a really clear and sunny June afternoon, so the beach was definitely a hot spot. We had enough room for building, but not much privacy. I noticed a group of four girls sun-tanning about twenty feet away. I watched them and Quil followed my gaze, but I didn't look at him because I didn't think I could handle catching his reaction to them.

Now I'm not an ugly girl, just average which I have grown to accept, but there was one girl that stood out far beyond the rest. Although none of them were particularly lacking in the body department— she, the red head, had a body that literally made me want to hide my head in shame. Some girls seriously had all of the luck.

Every month when Lana gets her subscription to _Seventeen_ magazine, she passes them on to me, circling fads and makeup tips to try but sometimes I just think it's pointless. The magazines are full of these types of girls, these beautiful, beach bombshells and they never look like me! My long, bone straight brown hair had no luster like the golden blonds in the swimsuit ads. My eyes were the typical shade of brown, big and almond shaped, like the rest of the Native girls I knew. My skin was coppery, another thing you never saw in magazines, a constant reminder that my type of beauty was not accepted by the rest of the world. How could I attract someone like Quil, when I had such inferior equipment to work with?

I should have brought those breast enhancers my mom bought me, the ones that look like raw chicken breast— but then I wouldn't be able to swim.

"Okay, so where do we start," he asked kicking off his sandals and pulling off his shirt. I saw the red-head sit up, appraising Quil in all his sexiness.

I was wearing the only clothes I brought with me, so I had to take them off or spend the rest of the day covered in sand but I suddenly felt very self conscious. I quickly pulled off my jean shorts and white t-shirt, revealing what I thought was going to my sexy new bikini, but now just sort of looked lame and empty in comparison.

I didn't look up at him, afraid to see what he thought of my new two-piece, which I bought with Lana in Port Angeles on a day she wasn't being a mondo-bitch. Sometimes she was the best sister in the world— but those times were just few and far between.

I could only think of two responses from Quil: the brotherly, "that's way too revealing, missy" or worse best-friendy indifference.

"Okay, so we need to make a flat, strong base to build on, so we gotta pound down the sand with our feet. I wanna make a huge castle, a la Hogwarts, so all around here," I said demonstrating a very ambitious circle and looking at him for the first time. He was watching me with an odd expression, his eyes lingering on my torso momentarily; I couldn't really place his emotions, so I shot my eyebrow up in a question.

He seemed to snap out of it and asked me "Alahogwarts?"

Sometimes when I talk, I forget to breathe and everything jumbles together. Quil was usually pretty good deciphering though, having spent more time with me than even my own father. A question came to me then, one that I felt so completely moronic for never asking.

"Hogwarts, the castle in Harry Potter. Um, Quil… how did you meet my family?" That wasn't the question I really wanted to ask but I couldn't bring myself to ask that just yet.

"Um, you came to visit your Aunt Emily, when you were two. I've told you that before," he said pounding the sand with his massive feet and not looking up to meet my eyes.

"Yeah, but like my parents and stuff?"

"When they came to pick you up," his answers were unusually short. On average when I asked Quil a question, he expounded which was immensely appreciated during my _"but why?"_ stage.

"Okay… but why did you stick around? I mean okay, you meet some cute and obviously lovable toddlers at a party, their parents come to pick them up… the end."

I got to the question finally, fearing this might be the point where he admitted his thirteen plus year affair with my mom… or even my dad.

"I stuck around for you kiddo," he answered, again with no detail. I stopped stomping to watch him, and he looked up, his eyes trailing from the floor to my eyes. I thought that they paused momentarily on my small but endearing breast, but I was probably wrong. "You know, to watch out for you, babysit you and what not."

"Why?" I pressed.

"Because." He shot back.

"Because why?" I hit him with the ultimate schoolyard question. The _"because why"_ rebuttal is widely known as the end-all of elementary questioning, and can only truly be trumped with the—

"Because I wanted to." Goddamnit, he went there.

Sometimes he was such a big kid! Before I could restart the "Why" cycle of questioning with another "But why?" he crouched down and began smoothing the foundation with his hands and I joined him.

"You're the best, you know that right?" He said ruffling my hair. I huffed, giving in and filling my bucket with sand.

After two hours of frying under the sun while trying to build a clock tower I gave up, my arms feeling like jelly. I was too hot to continue, and I collapsed spread eagle, next to my tiny model of Hagrid's hut.

"I'm dying," I wailed to the summer sky. I felt his warm arms encircle me, and although I was already sweltering in the heat, I could not complain as he carried me bridal style to the water. The whole thing felt so much like a romance novel cover— a werewolf stud and olive skinned damsel— that I imagined myself momentarily clad in a flowing gown of some sort.

I got caught up in it all but when the first splashes of cold water hit the small of my back I shrunk away, wrapping my arms around Quil's neck tightly. He chuckled as pulled myself up higher away from the water and pressed my cheek to his. His cheek was on fire, but it felt so natural on mine. I realized that I had never had so much of my bare skin touching his and I felt my own cheeks blush hot.

I let my hand trail down his chest, settling just above his heart, I played with the idea of nuzzling my face in his neck, taking advantage of the closeness while I had it, but the rhythm of his heart stopped me short. It was fast like the bass thumps of a techno song and I was mesmerized, all turned on and close, but not close enough. I looked in his eyes, and I knew I wasn't imagining it this time, there was something different there. Before I could pull myself closer or comment on his heartbeat he tossed me, literally tossed me, I was submerged in ice cold water, my desire quickly replaced with annoyance.

When I broke the surface, searching for Quil's large form, I couldn't see him anywhere. I made a circle, my urge to smack his stupid face turning to worry when he didn't emerge for over a minute. Then suddenly arms circled around my middle, and I turned to see him smiling brightly. That smile, his smile made me gooey—no, not gooey, complete goo. I turned into goo and I liked it.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Quil- Enough With This Gravity Moving Already!

* * *

Claire was distracted today and talking faster than usual, though her thoughts seemed far away. She turned and I followed her eyes. II always wanted to see what Claire was seeing, to see the world through her eyes but I was especially curious what gave her such a pained expression. She was watching a group of girls in the distance, a thing she had been doing a lot lately.

I didn't understand it, not at first; I figured it was some sort of _women's business_ , so I questioned Kim and Emily about it, which was the best course of action when I was confused about _girly things_. They both told me Claire was probably just " _experiencing teenage self consciousness, which was completely reasonable_ ". That of course, was not reasonable to me. What could she be self conscious about?

I didn't understand it, but I took their word for it and tried to snap her out of it. It was unbelievably hot and I'd honestly rather be in the the water but I stripped off my excess clothing getting ready to start our xtreme sand castling.

 _Xtreme sand castle building_ , where does she come up with these things? Sometimes Claire's mind boggles me, other times it maddens me, most of the time though, it just amazes me. Maybe it was an imprinting thing, a way to keep the imprinter from fighting his duty to protect, but I would never fight it. I know that's what I was born for, the purpose of my life. Claire. Protect and serve the community, like a member of a badass mystic police force and be everything for my Claire.

I know what the pack thinks about us, in fact, I hear what they were thinking… but they don't understand. They think it's just a matter of time before I _fall_ for her, an idea both Sam and I are utterly disturbed by. They don't get it, because they all had romantic imprinting, and even though they don't want to hear my theories on imprinting categories, you can't fight with the facts. They all, except for Jacob (but that was a whole other whacked out story all together), imprinted on girls they could mate with (making more little pups) in the near future, because the need for more wolves was vital then. So why would I have imprinted on a girl I would not be able to… to… _do it_ with for another like sixteen to eighteen years, it's just not logical.

So the categories of imprinting according to Quil Ateara are as follows: romantic imprin— _oh shit. She's wearing a bikini… since when did she wear bikinis? Yeah, the packs gonna love this memory, I'm going to hear about this for weeks._

It's not like I didn't notice, that she was becoming more breathtakingly beautiful every month. Who didn't notice? Even Embry noticed it, which of course, was a watertight reason to beat the hell out of him. It was just a fact of life though. She was a girl, growing into a woman. Of course she would be pretty but it didn't mean much for us, it didn't need to change anything.

"Um, Quil… how did you meet my family?" She interrupted my thoughts, and I saw in her eyes she was leading to something, probably the exact something I was just thinking about, which was a conversation I wasn't really ready to get into.

"Um, you came to visit your Aunt Emily, when you were two. I've told you that before," but I had of course, kept out the whole imprinting bit.

So, I knew it wasn't a sexual thing, _hello_ , how could it be, she was two? I know it might never be a sexual thing, I didn't need it to be, I'm just not thrilled about explaining it to her till she's an adult. Especially when the only examples of imprinting bonds around her are so disgustingly in love. Her aunt Emily had Sam, Jared had his Kim, Paul was with Rachel, Jacob loved the half-vamp Nessie and Collin was seriously attached to Helen: these were terrible examples for the platonic bond I shared with her.

"Yeah, but like my parents and stuff?" When she asked this she moved farther away and I subconsciously adjusted the distance again, this imprinting thing was sort of ridiculous sometimes; when we were together is was becoming increasingly difficult for me not to be within three feet of her.

I knew what she was really asking; she wanted to know how meeting her at Sam and Emily's house had turned into this brother sister thing. I played dumb. "When they came to pick you up."

She was frustrated, I could hear it in her voice when she said, "Okay… but why did you stick around? I mean okay, you meet some cute and obviously lovable toddlers at a party, their parents come to pick them up… the end."

This would be the best opportunity for me to bring up imprinting again. Emily, had mentioned it once before, but she promptly shut up when she saw the expression on my face. This of course, was now the subject of all of our discussions, meaning I avoided Emily like fleas; _"When are you going to tell her"_ and _"Imprinting is a two way street, Quil"_ were her favorite lines.

"I stuck around for you kiddo," I was as honest as possible, because I _couldn't_ actually lie to her, even when I tried. I avoided the subject masterfully as we began to build the impossibly large sand castle, forcing me to go to all areas of the beach finding sand that fit her standards.

She had this determined face, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she crafted a clock tower. I could have gone at it all day, but as the sun bore down on us her enthusiasm waned. She sighed dramatically, stretched out on the ground and admit defeat. I could see the sweat that glistened on her copper skin. My eyes trailed down past her long neck, her graceful collarbone, to her… breast—which I tried not to notice were small, perfectly round, and currently protruding ever so slightly out of the side of her bikini top.

I cut the thought off, scolding myself— _that's completely inappropriate, Quil_ —but it didn't stop my stomach from twisting and the heat from creeping up my body. The sun was strong today, that was all. I picked her up. She was light, I hadn't carried her like this for years but she seemed as light as before and I started to worry about her diet. Maybe I should take her to eat some— I stopped breathing. Her hands had come up quickly and wrapped around my neck which she used to pull herself closer.

And it moved.

 _It._

 _Moved_.

It, being the part of my body I had almost forgot about since I'd seen her for the first time. This is _not_ happening! I wished she wouldn't move so much. She felt so good in my arms. Even sweating in this heat, her skin felt cool, soothing against my neck. Her cheek which she settled gently on mine sent a tiny wave of energy through my body, something I hadn't felt since I felt up Mindy George in the 10th grade.

She pulled away but— _oh hell_! Her hand slid down from my neck, her fingertips leaving jolts as they traced my bare chest. I didn't want to but I couldn't help looking at her, and I felt it all change again.

The world moved, jerked, adjusting so that all I could see was her, and not just that, no—I had seen that,felt that for years. Now it felt as if there could be no life without her in it, no, that wasn't enough, that's what I have always felt, the feeling was as if, as if… as if I didn't touch her, kiss her, feel her, I would hurt. This time the gravity wasn't pulling me by string, it was pushing me— like knives trusting bluntly in my back.

Ugh! _Enough with this gravity moving already_! I am a man of free will. I flung her, as lightly as possible away from my body.

Take that mystical spirits!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Claire- Days 1 Through 58!

* * *

After I turned into goo, Quil swam to shore, and when I got there he was packing up. He drove me back to Emily's house and when I hopped out of the car he didn't follow me inside. He promised he would be back soon but he didn't return till way after dinner and left early for patrol. The pack now thirteen strong ran twice daily patrols in groups of about six. The newer wolves Phil, Jordan, Solace, Michael, Krys and Anna liked to patrol together, and the older crew ran together like the "good old days".

I walked him to the door and tried to hug him goodnight, as per usual, but he turned it into some awkward pat on the back and zoomed past me. Emily looked uneasy and I excused myself, heading to the fold out couch in the living room where I slept whenever I stayed in La Push.

I had done it, I had made my interest in him obvious and now everyone knew. The most embarrassing thing I've had to endure since I blew chunks in Ms. Oleho's sixth grade natural science class.

How long was it going to be before we had the dreaded talk? Not " _the talk_ ", which I had had with him years earlier when Stephenie Stonebrook told me where babies came from, but the: You-know-I-love-you-kid-but-not-in-that-way talk! I started the countdown

Day 1: Quil came to Emily's for breakfast, and drove me back to my house with the music blaring. _Since when did he like country music?_

Day 2: No call, no show.

Day 3: Quil came over today while Adrian and I were chillin'. Normal, except he was nicer to Adrian than even I am!

Day 4, 5 & 6: I sneakily got the 411 from Rachel—Quil has been on duty in La Push for the last 3 days. The pack is on the trail of two unknown vampire scents.

Day 7: Quil called— the vampires, a male and female were caught and killed, Brady was injured but would be ok.

Day 8, 9: I called Quil— he claims to be busy watching over Brady. _When did Quil become the pack nurse?_

Day 10: Emily called my mom tonight, so of course I gangstered the phone and when I asked her about Brady, she said and I quote, "Brady's fine, he's hanging out with Seth, Phil and Collin at the beach". _Filthy liar!_

Day 11: Adrian came over today; his hands roamed too far south… with no Quil to stop him and a serious case of the lonelies I let him.

Day 12: Adrian, eager for a repeat of yesterday came over while no one was home. I broke up with him before he got too touchy feely and I felt relieved. _Am I a sociopath?_

Day 13: Saturday night and no word from Quil. Saturday is our day though...

Day 14: 4 days straight and still no contact from Quil, the ache in my stomach is becoming unbearable. I'm not upset about Adrian but I might be heartbroken for all he knows.

Day 15: I call Quil to inform him of my "heart break" and demand his comfort. He comes bearing gifts of sour patch kids, my favorite, and things are almost perfect, except he sat on the other side of the room avoiding any physical contact. When I try to get closer, try to fulfill this pull I feel to him he leaves for "patrol".

Day 16, 17, 18: Quil went to visit Leah in Seattle… _should I be worried?_

Day 19: Quil came to my art studio on the rez, watched me while I painted, but my paintings sucked because I was concentrating on his uneven breathing… and also how much I wanted to kiss him, how badly I wanted him hands to roam south, how desperately I needed him.

Day 20, 21, 22, 23: Mom dragged me along to visit Saint Martin's University, the only school to accept Lana, which would have been fun, except it's located in depressing Lacey, Washington. I miss him.

Day 24: Jacob and some of the Cullen crew return to Forks. Quil says he's too busy in La Push to come to me, so I insist my mom drives me there first thing tomorrow. My dad called before I went to bed, he's traveling with his company and won't be back for a few more months.

Day 25: I hang out at Emily's house, with Quil, Embry, Jacob and Renesme. They're getting married this October in the forest, and the entire pack is invited, oh and me… I'm happy for them, but also disgustingly jealous.

Day 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31: Quil came over every day this week, but he spent more time watching old episodes of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ , and chatting with my mom than me. Is he finally giving in to my mom?

Day 32, 33: No sign of Quil.

Day 34: Movie night with Quil, who sits on the farthest corner of the couch as we watched a horror film. I wanted so desperately for him to hold me, I could have cried.

Day 35: Nothing! Not even a text message!

Day 36: Quil calls to make plans but he cuts it short.

Day 37: Quil takes me to Port Angeles to pick out an outfit for my birthday. Things seem normal- he sits and waits patiently for me to decide on an outfit. When I try on a backless shirt, he bolts across the room and picks up the only sweater in the shop. I decide on the backless shirt and a pair of tight dark purple jeans with a black design at the bottom of the right leg. He doesn't look at me the rest of the night, and barely says anything as he scarfs down a large pizza and four cokes, which would be disgusting to me if he didn't have that whole mountain man thing going for him….

Day 38, 39, 40, 41, 42: He doesn't come over and calls only once to say he's been doing double duties since Seth, Solace and Embry are visiting Leah in Seattle. Leah, again… _now I'm worried_.

Day 43: Leah returns to La Push with Seth, Solace and Embry. My mom drives me down so she can visit with them. Leah is more breathtaking than I remembered and I get tears in my eyes examining her flawless caramel skin. Quil eyes me suspiciously and I avoid her and Quil the rest of the night. Now I'm pretty sure he's porkin' her, or wolfing her, whatever. _And why wouldn't he?_ She's gorgeous and sophisticated, and I am so not!

Day 44: Quil calls but I beg Lana to tell him I'm with friends, afraid I might cry.

Day 45, 46, 47: Quil doesn't call or come over and I'm grateful!

Day 48: The days without seeing him are too much and I prank call him just to hear his voice.

Day 49, 50, 51: I cry continuously, my mother gets worried, she thinks I'm still upset over Adrian. She calls Kim to come cheer me up. It doesn't work; it just reminds me that Kim's madly in love with a werewolf too… 'cept her werewolf feels the same.

Day 52: Lana convinces me to start a new diet and makeover plan with her to prepare her for college and attract a new man for me.

Day 53: Lana and I go grocery shopping for our 2-week lemonade diet, and buy clay masks to even out our complexion. Quil comes over after our facials were freshly applied—I freak out and wash it off twenty minutes early.

Day 54: Lana figures out who I'm crying over— I'm surprised that she doesn't freak and for the first time in her life was a good and supporting big sister. I think we bonded, but I'm keeping that info to myself.

Day 55: Lana and I started to pack her bags for school and I felt surprisingly depressed at the idea of her impending escape.

Day 56: Lana left in the morning for Freshman Orientation, with a much more tearful send off than I would have expected.

Day 57: My mom is moping around the house and I put on the clay mask we bought in honor of Lana, who texted me to tell me she shares with a girl who has a lifesize poster of Jesus next to her bed—and not the cool ones where he's wearing sunglasses, or surfing, the kinds where he's _really_ Jesus, just dying on the cross or something.

Day 58: It's been four days since I've seen Quil, and all I do is sleep, which is probably also because I haven't eaten anything but lemonade in a week and I feel weak. If I don't see him right now I'm going to explode!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Claire- Soccer Moms in SUVs

* * *

I'm not a good driver, in fact that's a gross understatement, I'm a terrible driver, and I was only awarded a license after two disastrous, yet comical attempts. Solace one of the younger wolves tried to teach me but I gave up after I almost destroyed his car. I didn't get much practice after that either— my mom, Lana and Quil acted as chauffeurs for the majority of my life. So when I asked my mom for the keys to her Buick, the look on her face could only be described as horrified, and if she didn't see the feverish desperation in my eyes I'm sure she wouldn't have given in.

I am determined to see Quil today. Not just see him, I need to know why he's been too busy to see me. And if I find it's because of Leah or any other girl or guy for that matter I would have to deal with it. I would play cool, I would tell him how happy I was for him. I just needed my best friend back.

There was only a light drizzle today, which I thanked the gods for. My driving was bad enough without the addition of questionable road conditions. It took me over an hour to arrive though, driving so slowly that old people and soccer moms in SUVs zoomed past me.

Quil's truck wasn't at Emily's house but I popped in anyways, hoping for some info on his whereabouts. I found Kim in the kitchen, making grilled cheeses for the boys. Six kids in total, her three kids Ethan, Taylor and Amber, Rachel's girl Trisha and Emily's twins who she was monitoring for the afternoon. She wasn't exactly babysitting, Emily's twins were teenagers now but all of them together could be trouble especially the older one David.

I had babysat for the pack few times last summer and was surprised to see how big her boys had gotten since I saw them last. They were all pleased to see me, and I hugged them tightly, her oldest Ethan was almost as tall as me. He was cute, actually just a few more years he would be considered a full-fledged hottie. He was my favorite kid to babysit, polite and quiet. They told me about their day and I noticed depressingly the way Ethan and Paul's daughter Trisha looked at each other, I wish Quil looked at me like that…

"Quil is doing inventory with Emily and the pack," Kim answered knowingly, eyeing me humorlessly when I didn't respond. I headed to the door, but she stopped me. "Hey kiddo?"

"Yeah," I responded impatiently.

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" _Shit! Was she going to break the news to me?_ Kim was insightful and I wanted to hear her out, but also terrified to hear what she had to say.

"Can it wait?"

"Not really, Claire", she answered shortly.

"Okay, fine, if you must," I said dejectedly settling in a free chair.

"Kids, why don't ya'll go eat in the living room, okay?" She motioned for the group to leave us and my heart started to pound. "It's nothing bad, Claire. It's just… well it's some interesting werewolf lore I don't think you've heard before."

Kim slid me a grilled cheese fresh off the pan onto a plate she laid out before me. "Here eat. You're looking a little skeletal."

"This can't wait?" I asked rudely.

"Nope," she said popping the 'P'. I took a bite, totally breaking my lemonade diet, but not wanting to look at her.

"So, well you have been to the campfires, you know our history— Quileute history," she amended quickly. For I am Claire, proud Makah!

"You know about the wolves, but there are a few things about that magic that are still a little unclear. Magical and wonderful, but unclear," she said grabbing my hand. "Well, when I was your age, and I learned about the wolves, I also learned about imprinting or I should say I experienced imprinting, before I actually learned about it. I'm not explaining this well… maybe I should wait for Emily? No. Okay, so… what is imprinting? Imprinting Claire, in my opinion, is the most amazing part of the pack. It's a bond, the strongest bond in the world. Imprinting is when a werewolf meets his life partner," she finished lamely.

"Okay, so wolves imprint like ducks," I said calmly, though the bite of grilled cheese I had taken rolled in my gut.

"Jared imprinted on me in high school. It was the most amazing feeling Claire. One day he looked at me and it was as if I knew he would never look at another girl again," she patted my hand.. My insides were on fire. The conversation was heading there, I knew what was next, she was going to tell me that one day I would find _the one_ … but that it wasn't Quil and that was not something I was ready to hear.

"I gotta go," I practically lunged at the door.

"No, Claire, you don't understand. Imprinting isn't just love, it's much more than that, it's a connection that only the pack can have. Once a werewolf imprints he can't take it back, that wolf will be with you for the rest of your life, you won't be able to live without them near you. Sam imprinted on Emily of course… Paul and Rachel, Collin and Helen, Jacob and Nessie." _Well that made more sense, I always wondered how— wait!_

 _Hold the fun bus up…_

 _Did that mean—_

 _No, nope, nope nope nope._

 _But maybe…_

 _Quil and Leah?_

"Oh, hmmm… that's crazy but I really gotta go," I said unlatching the screen door.

"Quil imprinted honey," she said sweetly, her hand coming to rest on my back

"Wow, I'm so happy for them," I managed to croak before bolting out of the door and running blindly down the stairs, tears fogging my vision.

"Claire no. Wait!" She screamed after me, but I was gone, driving faster than I ever had in my life… which was still less than 60mph! I made it to the store in less than three minutes, but just sat in the car hyperventilating.

 _That's what he was doing? That's why he was always gone… spending time with that BITCH, Leah. I hate her. I hate her! That stupid, miserable, man-stealing Quileute beauty queen!_

The rage pushed me forward, pulling me out of the car and through the front of the store. Paul was at the counter and Collin was not far behind stocking Marlboro cigarettes. My anger grew. How many poor girl's hearts did this pack break with their imprinting? Did Paul and Collin have girlfriends before they imprinted? He isn't my boyfriend I know, but doesn't he feel something? Doesn't he know I would die if he had someone else?

"Hey Claire-bear," Paul chimed. He cringed when he saw my face and I was about to tear into him when I heard his voice. Quil's beautiful voice.

"My sex life is not your concern Emily!" All of my anger melted away, replaced with the weight of an anvil falling in the pit of my stomach. I stood frozen in place, begging my body to run then he saw me, a tear escaping my left eye and my body finally complied. I flew out the door forgetting my car and taking to the road on foot.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Quil- Bout Time, Man!

* * *

"Come on man, you're being ridiculous," Seth whined, grabbing another stack of boxes off the back of the truck. It was inventory day in the store, which meant half the pack was present, avoiding me and my increasingly sour mood. We unloaded the truck by hand, the driver eyeing us curiously as we juggled impossible amounts of cargo without breaking a sweat. I tipped him generously, and he wasn't too concerned, whistling the 'star spangled banner' as he went.

I didn't feel the need to defend myself to Seth, or among the rest of the pack, as I started to unpack and organize the boxes of Lays potato chips.

"Sam, back me up here," Seth continued, shouting from behind a mountain of Pepsi products.

"Seth, our brother has made a decision and we need to respect it," Sam responded impartially, eyeing me as I priced ruffled chips grumpily. The pack I held deflated under the pressure.

I didn't plan to discuss or even inform the pack of my resolution, which in my opinion was none of their stinking business, but the whole one-pack-mind thing made it hard to conceal. In fact, it was getting increasingly more difficult, as my filthy, filthy, disgusting desire for her grew stronger.

It had been two months— two months of avoiding situations where we might be alone, and mentally chastising myself whenever my thoughts strayed into Xrated territory, which was more and more frequently. I even left La Push for peace of mind, but the pain was unbearable and I had to return to her side.

Every time I saw her smile though, or caught a whiff of her scent, which was like honey and almonds, or worse when I noticed how the arch in her back lead so perfectly to the peak of her— _okay, buddy, stop there, no more thinking about her perfect round— STOP!_

The pack was split, those who had imprinted (plus Seth) and those who had not, which was now about 40/60; Sam, the key player however, stayed far away from the debate. The debate which centered around whether or not I should lie with my Claire-bear in the biblical sense. This extremely personal choice was now part of an open forum.

Since the _'Great Renesme War',_ when our pack gained six new wolves and the grand exit of the Cullen clan, the pack had not increased in size. In fact, with the departure of Jacob and Leah, it had decreased, leaving thirteen wolves behind. This of course caused the packs intimacy to increase drastically, and the intimacy brought with it the annoying habit of making all personal worries and problems public.

Kim's demands for more children for example, or Seth's fear of marrying his longtime girlfriend Natalia, when the possibility of imprinting still lie on his head… and now my choice to 'defy gravity' as Jacob called it. Jacob, who they (and by that I mean Seth) contacted so they (again, insert Seth) could unnecessarily inform him of MY personal decision.

"She's hurting, Quil. She misses you," Emily finally piped in; I was waiting for it all morning.

"I see her every other day, sometimes more," I tried feebly to defend myself. I made sure to stay polite, not wanting to get on Sam's bad side… _could he command me to confess my love to her? Have sex with her? Would I have to leave the pack again? Would Jacob take me in_?

"You know what I mean, Quil. It's not the same and she's noticed. She thinks you're mad at her or something and she can't sleep. The girl is starting school again soon; you're going to ruin her studies, Quil." Her words punctured me fully, leaving jagged and painful pits in my stomach.

The thought of causing her pain was unbearable, because her pain was my pain but I didn't know how to be around her with this new and unbearable desire for her.

"You won't hug her. You won't go anywhere alone with her. You won't even look her in the eyes, Quil. Did you think she wasn't gunna notice that? And you know what's worse? She won't even tell me about it… we have to hear about this from her sister. She's soooo lonely Quil that she's actually talking to LANA!" I wished she would shut up but I bit my tongue, wrestling with nausea at the thought of having caused a lonely or unhappy Claire.

"You're feeling it too man, I can see it in your thoughts," Seth joined in. He hated this, especially since he wanted nothing more than to imprint himself. He actually tried continually to force imprinting on his girlfriend Natalia. I felt bad for him, of those who had not imprinted, but only Seth seemed to desire it. I sometimes wished I could switch with him, but even though I saw how that could be better for Claire (a life with kind-hearted Seth), I was too selfish to wish it too hard. I couldn't imagine myself living without the bond, she was the center of my world— how could I live without my sun to orbit?

"We don't have to be _intimate_ to have a bond, Seth."

"But you're not just deciding not to sleep with her, you're ignoring her, you're backing away from her, Quil, and it is destined to be" Emily shot back. I couldn't handle it anymore, I headed towards to door screaming as I went.

"My sex life is not your concern Emily!" I was past them in a heartbeat, pounding through the doors to the storefront when I saw her. Claire was standing completely still near the counter with Paul, his face struggling between amused and horrified. Collin dropped a box of cigarettes, eyes wide with shock.

I searched her pained expression, she wasn't breathing, not a muscle on her body even twitched as I appeared, it was unsettling like watching a vampire version of my Claire. I stumbled uncertain towards her and froze again; the only other movement in the room was a single tear that slid slowly down her face. She bolted out of the store, a curtain of long silky mahogany brown hair flowing behind her.

I tripped clumsily over a crate of milk losing precious seconds. On the street I saw no sign of her, but I could feel her pull and I followed it in the direction of Emily's house, down an alley, where I found her crouched with her knees to her chest, sobbing quietly into her forearms.

I felt as if bricks were falling from the sky, weighing me down as I approached. She didn't look up, probably not hearing me as I drew closer. I wanted to touch her, grab her, hold her, and more than that I wanted to stab my own eyes out for causing her any sort of pain.

She finally looked up when my body cast a shadow, blocking the sun on her small frame. She looked embarrassed, which made me angrier with myself. I knelt down and tried to look her in the eyes but she avoided them. I had spent two months avoiding her touch, but I couldn't NOT comfort her when I saw her hurting.

I pulled her to her feet, the touch of her skin sending sparks though my body. She turned then, finally meeting my gaze. I opened my mouth to speak but closed it again, having no idea what to say to soothe her. Her eyes, the most beautiful, deep pools of dark chestnut brown put me in a daze, I couldn't look away.

I felt myself get closer, but I had no conscious thought of doing so. She seemed to be on the same wavelength, her arms crawling up mine. Her fingers sent jolts of energy up my arms before settling at my neck which she had to stand on her toes to reach.

I had to remind myself to breathe. I have been in many battles but here in her arms was the most terrifying and exhilarating moment of my life.

Placing my hand in the small of her back, I lifted her so she didn't have to strain. She was pressed against my body, softer than I remembered. Her smell was amplified—honey, almonds and summer rain. I had her pinned to the wall, the physical closeness filling me with so much longing that I hurt.

And I was kissing her. My lips brushing hers as if by mistake. Once. Twice. Three times.

She gasped the third time as if the first two had gone unnoticed. I wanted to stop, to look in her face and be sure she was okay, but my body was out of control. Forget butterflies, my stomach felt as if there was a boxing match going on inside, and the hairs on my arms stood as I pressed her more urgently against the wall.

My lips which were now roaming the plains of her neck, grazed her left ear and she twitched in my arms, her back arching. I had only ever been this close to a girl twice, before imprinting, before my werewolf days even. I don't remember their faces, I barely remember the intimacy, but I do remember how they reacted, how they moved. _Claire liked that._

I brought my lips back to her ear, desperate to make her feel what I was feeling. If she could feel even one percent of the joy, pleasure, lust, love that I had for her I would be content.

I very lightly dragged my teeth along her earlobe, and a soft, devastatingly arousing moan escaped her lips. I had her so securely against the wall she let go of my neck, placing her hands on my cheeks and pulling my face to look at her. I closed my eyes, afraid to see her reaction, but then her lips were on mine, more eager and more urgent than before. Her lips expertly pried mine apart, her warm sweet tongue skimming my bottom lip before finding mine and I felt as if I were floating away, this could not be real. This moment was too perfect to be-

"WHOO HOO!"

"BOUT TIME, MAN!"

"In an alley. Really? You couldn't wait till you were in private?"

The voices of Seth, Paul and Collin, shot through the alley forcing us apart, but I kept my hand resting on the small of her back and she grabbed bicep, hiding her face.

"Thanks guy," I snorted gruffly.

"Anytime man."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Claire- Hit by the WTF Bus

* * *

I knew the alley was empty now, but I couldn't move, my face was buried in his chest, listening to him breathe evenly… which was totally embarrassing because I was still panting, and frozen solid after being hit by the what-the-fuck bus!

He kissed me! Quil Ateara kiss ME! I'm not dreaming, and as far as I know I'm not yet dead. I can smell him and feel him, he IS here and he just kissed me… and nibbled my ear and smashed my body against a wall. Which by the way was outrageously hot, like hotter than I can explain _._

"Um, you okay?" Quil's voice was soft and worried as he gently pried me off his body, running his hand through my hair, smoothing it out.

"I don't know," I whimpered. I couldn't move—my knees felt as if they were made of jello… or even softer, like pudding. _Mmmm… pudding._ My stomach growled embarrassingly and I giggled, finally looking at his face. He looked scared, as if I were going to hit him. I wanted to laugh; six foot tall and he looked scared of me.

"You didn't hurt me," I assured him, taking advantage of our new closeness and kissing every part of him I could reach. Ignoring my empty stomach I kissed his arms and his chest through the thin fabric of his tee.

"I'm just in shock… and a little hungry," I admitted rubbing my abdomen.

"Claire, what happened to you," Quil demanded, examining me thoroughly for the first time today.

"What?" I asked, subconsciously patting down my hair and straightening my shirt.

"You lost so much weight and you— wait did—did I do this?" Quil asked, the most intense fiery pain in his eyes. I couldn't bear to see it. I hopped on my tippy toes and covered his lips with mine, eager to see if he still allowed me to do so. His lips responded, but I could tell he was still upset.

"You didn't do anything. It's this diet thing me and Lana are doing. Two weeks of special lemonade, go down two sizes!" I said in my best infomercial voice.

"You haven't eaten in TWO WEEKS!" He bellowed, outraged.

"No! Only 6 days," I reasoned with him. I was in his arms before I knew it and he was rushing me back to the store, the heat from his body pressed on my right side.

"We're getting you something to eat now!" He said heading to the store.

"I can walk you know," I said lightly, not really wanting to argue when I could be close to him.

When he put me down in front of the door he held it open and I walked in to find half the pack—Collin, Michael, Seth, Paul, Anna, Jared, Embry, Sam and Emily, in full play-by play discussion. I was sure I was going to die of humiliation right there when I heard Embry ask, "any over the sweater action?" and Collin replied, "they were too close for fondling."

"Out! Out! Out! Thank you for helping, but—OUT! Now!" Quil shouted knocking Embry through the door followed closely by Jared. Anna winked at me as she left, grabbing a bottle of 7-up and Michael's hand.

"Um, wow. That's not gunna stop being awkward, huh?" I asked smiling.

"Awkward?"

"People talking about us," I said tossing my finger back and forth between us.

"Us," it was not a question, his face lit up pleasantly as he digested the words and I launched myself at him; scaling Quil like a tree and placing kisses all over his face, finally reaching his mouth. He placed me gently on the counter, not breaking my hold, pressing even closer as he deepened the kiss. I moaned ridiculously and embarrassingly in his mouth, as the tip of his tongue traced my top lip.

His hands trailed down from my face, caressing my collarbone, sending chills down my back. His fingers traced lower, past my shoulder blade, over my heart and finally down the middle of my breast, grazing my nipple and causing a tremor so intense it broke our kiss.

He started to pull away, and I begged shamelessly, "please, don't stop," wrapping my legs tightly around his waist. He chuckled into my mouth, kissing me softly once more, before bringing his lips to my ear. I struggled to keep myself from making anymore stupid sounds by gripping him tightly. He bit on my ear lightly, before moving his lips to the soft spot just behind the lobe, placing a soft kiss there.

I couldn't control myself and when I noticed I was digging my nails into his back I let go quickly. He groaned and I could feel on my leg that he was turned on. The knowledge that I could do that to him got my heart racing again and I couldn't handle it.

"T-take me upstairs," I sputtered breathlessly, gripping on to him more tightly. He pulled me up tighter, and headed towards the back, where there were stairs leading to his small apartment above the shop. Just as we reached the door, the front door's small bell rung and Quil grunted loudly. He didn't let me down, his arms gripped me tighter but he dutifully turned us back to the front door.

"WE'RE CLOSED!" he bellowed, to a girl already holding two candy bars.

"Take those, merry Christmas," I growled impatient as the girls stared up at me. A new figure emerged in the doorway and Quil let me go. I smiled sheepishly at Emily stood trying to look dignified as I could muster.

"Um, sorry," Emily said blushing. "I just wanted to say, you're looking a bit too slim Claire-bear. Come over for food… when you're free." Emily hurried back out the door, and well there's just nothing like your aunt catching you mounting a man to kill the mood. My stomach agreed and I grabbed a Snickers bar, opening it quickly and dragging Quil out the front to follow Emily.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Quil- The Beast With Two Backs!

* * *

When we arrived at Emily's house I was not surprised to find the entire pack shooting comical glances back and forth while they ate in the kitchen. I tried to ignore them while I made Claire a towering plate of mac-n-cheese, ham and dinner rolls, but they were whispering so wildly I couldn't shut them out.

"I give them a week before their making the beast with two backs," Embry chuckled.

"Twenty bucks, says tonight's the night for the horizontal mambo," Jared raised his eyebrows theatrically.

"Yup, I'd say they're bumping uglies tonight," Paul's face was turning red from suppressed laughter.

Anna sitting on boyfriend Michael's lap giggled uncontrollably when she joined the conversation, "the beast with two backs? Bumping uglies?"

"What would you like us to call it, Anna?" Brady asked indulgently. Anna the only remaining girl in our pack was tough— sweet, kind and caring definitely— but tough, however on occasion the guys would modify behavior for her comfort. Anna was much better received by the pack than Leah. Her sense of smell kept us ahead of the game and she could hold her own in all battles.

"The word sex is pretty universal," she said smiling.

"Bo-ring," Paul stretched the word into two syllables. "Burying the bone? Checking the oil? Dancing in the sheets?" He suggested winking at her. Paul and Anna had a special friendship, she kept him in-line almost as well as Rachel, but also engaged him in some serious wrestling matches, much to Michael's chagrin.

"Doing the dirty? Fixing the plumbing? Hanky panky maybe?" Michael added before he kissed Anna again.

"Well, whatever you wanna call it, Claire's a virgin, and I think it's gunna take at least two weeks," Jordan whispered sagely. Despite joining as one of the last wolves, everyone listened to Jordan. He didn't speak much but when he did it meant something. He was wise, calm and mentally alert.

"You didn't see them man," Collin pointed out while gnawing on a huge chunk of ham.

"I'm with Embry, one week before they make love," Seth interjected shyly.

" _Make love_? What kind of grown man says _make love_?" Solace howled with laughter.

Solace can only be described as a bad-ass: the kind of guy you would find riding a motorcycle and breaking the hearts of teenage girls everywhere. He once dated Anna, but the subject was taboo and never openly examined.

"The kind who isn't making any," Krys chimed in, elbowing me in the stomach. Krys was the runt of the pack, smaller than the rest (including Anna) but he packed a serious punch. He grew up in the poorest part of the rez and had a terrible family life: alcoholism, abuse, gambling, the works. When he first joined the pack the thoughts in his head were sometimes more than I could handle. He now lived with Anna, Michael and his brother Jordan in a house on the south end of La Push, where they sold auto-parts on Ebay for extra cash.

"Can we just chill?" I chided, bringing the heavy plate in my hand to Claire in the living room. She giggled staring at it wide eyed before she kissed my cheek in thanks. I couldn't believe my body, its reaction to her was embarrassing, I felt as if I could collapse at her slightest touch.

Usually I joined the pack in the kitchen for meals but I didn't want to be away from her, so I stayed in the living room, sitting as close as I could without touching her.

I wasn't hungry, all I could think about was her skin, her lips, her warmth… and her eating! She needed some food in her stomach and I was going to sit by her side until I was convinced that she was a few pounds heavier.

Sam came in then, his expression split between annoyed and amused. He motioned for me to follow as he left the room and I reluctantly dragged myself towards the door.

When I got out on the porch Sam started in, "Okay, so I know you're touchy about your sex-life, Quil, but I think I should make it clear that Claire-is-only-seventeen-years-old-and-it's-not-wise-to-push-her-too-quickly," he said it so quickly the words blurred into one. My hands started to shake, the first time in five years that my emotions got the better of me.

Did he actually think I would _push_ Claire into doing _anything_! That I would _force_ myself on Claire?

"Calm down, Quil," his voice had an alpha edge, and I felt myself unwillingly release my anger.

"What are you getting at Sam?" I hissed.

"Quil, she's a girl. Your body might be stuck at twenty-something, but your _mind_ has been working and… well _very slowly_ maturing for thirty-three years," he smirked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Even if she seems like she's ready for more, you have to be the adult here."

"We didn't do anything."

"You were thinking about it," he shot back.

"But we didn't," I challenged, but my mind was wandering. He was right, I knew it, I couldn't control myself with Claire, one touch from her killed every ounce of strength I had. She was my true alpha, she had complete rule over me and every movement she made, every hint that she wanted more, was a signal for me to selfishly comply. I remember her shaking, breathless voice in my ear, ' _T-take me upstairs'._ It was a command and I was unwilling and unable to deny. What would I have done when we got there? I shuddered at the thought, half out of longing half out of disgusted guilt. I would have done anything she let me do, which seemed to be almost anything now.

"And all I'm saying is as the adult, next time you are in that situation, think about it a few more times before you act, okay?"

"Okay, you're right. Thanks Sam," I said lost in thought.

I wasn't in my right mind. I had allowed myself a moment without control around the world's most important creature and that was dangerous. These changes in our relationship needed to be handled with more care than I imagined.

It was easy, or at least easier, when I thought my desire was one-sided. When I felt like a mere servant having inappropriate thoughts about his Queen… but now, knowing that she wanted me, how could I stop myself? Sam was talking but I didn't hear it, I was replaying the memory…

 _Claire's small hand wrapped in my hair, her legs locked around my waist as she kissed me. Her smell changing as I pressed against her—a smell I had only experienced through the memories of the pack… arousal._

"You'll be fine brother, I trust you," Sam said his voice softening.

"I don't know if I trust myself right now," I bowed my head in shame. Sam lifted my chin with his elbow as he turned to walk back inside.

"Imprinting, it's a bitch right? Amazing and terrifying at the same time, it clouds your vision. Oh and yeah, one more thing, you scream at my wife like that again and we're going to have a problem."

I followed him inside making my way to the table and grabbing myself a plate. I nibbled at the food, my peripheral vision not straying from Claire, who was sitting frozen still between Emily and Anna, with Kim chatting animatedly across from her. I cocked my head trying to examine her expression more closely, she looked worried, I desperately wanted to be closer, but I kept my distance.

Seth turned to me then, "Wow, never thought I would see an imprinted couple more disgustingly mushy than Sam and Emily."

"Or more hormone driven than Jared and Kim," Michael snickered to my left.

"Or more whipped than Collin," Krys said winking as Collin who threw a piece of ham at him. He caught it and ate it giggling.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I muttered still staring at her.

"She's fine, no vamps popping through the window anytime soon, you could stand down, pup," Paul joined in, slapping me on the back.

And my mind, responded with the only come back it could muster, "Pup— I know you are, but what am I?"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Claire- All Wolfily Connected

* * *

"Wow!" Emily cried when Quil was out of sight, I felt cold without his warmth pressed against me.

"Yeah… I know," I whispered, not looking in her eyes. I wasn't sure how they were going to react to this. I wanted to beg them not to tell my mom, but thought that would be too big of a request. And how would I even ask? _Hey Emily, could you not tell my mom I was humping Quil like a dog in heat? I think she might disapprove._ Actually, I wasn't sure how my mom was going to respond to this, she wasn't like most other mothers… and I wasn't even sure how I felt about it. I mean I knew I was happy about it, but what did it mean? _What if it ended? Did it begin?_

"About time he told you, Claire!" Kim said sitting down next to Emily.

"Told me what?" I asked shoveling another spoonful of mac-n-cheese in my mouth. I was starving, but part of me was impressed at my self control, six days on a lemonade only diet was pretty difficult.

"About the imprint," Kim said looking at me as if I was slow. The conversation I'd had with her early in the day came back to me and I felt faint. I'd forgotten all about imprinting... and Leah.

"I've been begging for him to tell you for two years, Claire," Emily said looking apologetic. The scars that trailed on the left side of her face, wrinkled momentarily. _Wait! Two years, this has been going on for two years and no one told me?_ I felt queasy, he'd kissed me. What did he mean by kissing me if he was mystically tied to some ho?!

"Two years," were the only words I could muster, setting my plate on the coffee table. Anna came over then, pressing against me on the couch, her heat was so comforting and familiar that I leaned in greedily, placing my head on her shoulder.

"It's a lot to take in, huh?" Anna asked rubbing my back lightly. Anna had always been good to me, the only girl in the pack, she was always the voice of reason. She and I had a lot in common and our time together, although limited because she was constantly with her boyfriend Michael, was always a blast. We even shared a love of sour patch kids, which she could put away like a garbage disposal. When she looked at me for a response, I didn't trust myself not to cry, so I nodded once.

"What's wrong?" Emily asked concerned. I shrugged, I couldn't put all my thoughts in one sentence, but it seemed so unfair that I had finally gotten everything I wanted, and it was all so tangled, like a million cords of concern knotted in my chest.

"It's a huge commitment," Anna nodded solemnly. Did they all know? Was I the only one in the dark? Had they all known that I was in love with him? Was it like some joke to them? Poor Claire in love with Quil, when he's all wolfily connected to Leah.

"What? You're concerned about commitment now? From what I saw you were about to plunge into some pretty serious closeness and now you're concerned about your imprinting?" Emily asked indignantly.

"Wait. Wait… _my_ imprinting?... I think I'm… confused," I said a glint of hope shining in my mind. Could he have imprinted on me? Without me even noticing? Wasn't it like some cosmic love at first sight?

"What did Quil tell you exactly?" Kim asked, her eyebrow raised in a question.

"We didn't actually get to talk," I said blushing more fiercely than I could handle. I could feel Anna chuckling next to me.

"Yes, well. We're going to have to talk about that too," Emily said in full mother-mode.

"I tried to tell you earlier, Claire, before you ran away. I thought that's where you were going. You get it though, right?" Kim said as if she were talking to an extremely small child.

"I th-think so. It's just… it can't be, ya know? Life just isn't like this. You don't just get everything you want."

"Sometimes, you do," Kim said shortly, looking to see Quil and Sam re-enter the kitchen. I wanted to run to him, beg him to tell me everything to declare that like some romance novel, I was Makah Princess Claire betrothed to Quil the Quileute Warrior/sex machine!

"Which brings me to the sex talk." As if reading my mind Emily cut through my fantasies.

"Emily, I know about sex, I don't need—"

"I know you think you know _how_ to do it, but I'm not sure you know _when_ to do it," Emily cut me off. Anna was chuckling, her eyes darting to Michael who was looking over at us amused.

"Can they hear us?" I asked Anna, looking at Quil who was eating unenthusiastically. She nodded and my face grew hot.

"Okay, okay, Emily. Can we do this tomorrow, please? Without an audience," I begged.

"Fine, tomorrow. I expect you here before lunch," she whispered placing a kiss on my cheek.

I rushed to the kitchen, trying to ignore the stares from the rest of the pack as I stood on my toes to whisper in Quil's ear. "Can we get out of here?" I pleaded. His face looked worried and he glanced at Sam before nodding.

Without looking back I walked toward his store. The sky darkening quickly, just before large raindrops started to fall down on us. I jogges as my car came into view, pulling out the keys and hitting the unlock button. I got in to the backseat, and slid-in allowing room for Quil to follow. He paused at the door, but as the rain poured down harder, he hopped in.

"Are you cold?" He asked, running his huge hands up and down my arms to warm me. His touch was invigorating like a shock to the heart and I launched myself at him, kissing him wildly. He sat shocked as I sucked on his bottom lip and ran my hand through his shaggy hair. After a moment I realized he wasn't reacting and I stopped, immediately turning red and backing away.

"Sorry," I mumbled, feeling tears well in my eyes.

"Um, no, uh, don't be sorry. It's just—"

I cut him off, "I know, Leah right? It's okay." I hopped out of the car and ran around to the front seat, putting my keys in the ignition. He looked at me confused and got into the passenger seat.

"What? I can drive," I said defensively.

"I know," he said shyly, buckling my seatbelt and staring out the windshield. "It's pretty rainy though."

"Do you want to drive then?" I asked with attitude.

"Um, yeah, sure. If that's okay," he said already hopping out of the door. I didn't want to get any wetter so I hopped over to the other side without getting out of the car. When he settled back in his smell was intoxicating and I couldn't stop myself from touching his arm, he stared at my hand and I pulled away.

He sat frozen for a second more before turning to me and kissing me sweetly on my cheek at the very corner of my lips. I gasped lightly and he smiled, moving only a centimeter away. I could have turned my head 2 degrees to the left and we would be kissing, but I didn't think I could deal with the rejection again. We stayed like that, my breathing getting increasingly more uneven, his eyes closed, inhaling deeply.

I felt as if he was omitting energy, like a huge ball of heat and electricity and my entire body was reacting. He inched closer, kissing the corner of my mouth again and this time I couldn't resist, I moved my face towards his mouth and the kiss sent a shockwave of heat through my body, his woodsy smell filled my nostrils.

"Claire," he spoke into my mouth, his hot breath calming me. "I love you."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Claire- A Fun and Easy Way to Go Down a Dress Size

* * *

"Claire," he spoke into my mouth, his hot breath calming me. "I love you." My heart expanded and fluttered. It was beautiful, unexpected, but beautiful.

Then I remembered why I was mad at him. I turned my body to face him full on, "And Leah?"

"Um, I love her too I guess… She's still sorta part of the pa—"

"So you love with her too?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest.

"What are you talking about?"

"What are _you_ talking about?" I emphasized, looking at him disgusted.

"I'm not even sure anymore. I'm here telling you Claire that I love you, I'm in love with you and you're talking about Leah."

"And the imprint!" His face fell when I said this.

"You know about that?" He asked looking down.

"Yeah, why shouldn't I? I mean I _should_ be in the know, when you're kissing me like this, but you're all betrothed to Leah."

"Wait what?"

"Supernaturally engaged to Leah!" I shrieked, my fist tightening, I pounded on his chest until I felt as if the bones in my pinky were about to break.

"Whoa, whoa! I seriously, have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, usually I have some clue but—"

"You _imprinted_ on Leah," I realized the word imprinted was hard for me to say, as if I had to say something extremely dirty in front of a priest. Quil laughed, laughed so hard in fact, that the car began to shake and I stared at him waiting for an answer.

Now I'm not sure if everyone does this, but sometimes, especially at extremely bizarre or amazing moments in my life, I wonder what it would look like if it was made into a movie. I think if my life were made into a full length feature film, this moment, or I should say scene, would be a show stopper. Or maybe not… maybe there would have been so many clues throughout the film that the audience would be expecting what happened next. Maybe I am just so completely dense that only I was shocked at this moment—but the script would go something like this.

Setting: My mother's beat-up Buick, parked behind Quil's store.

Characters- Claire: Utterly average and bust deprived, lusty minor. Quil: Sexy bronzed werewolf.

Quil: No one has imprinted on Leah, what are you on about? You only imprint once, it's a once in a lifetime thing and I imprinted on you.

Claire: On who?

Quil: On you, Claire.

Claire: How?

Quil: I don't know, it's magic.

Claire: When?

Quil: Fifteen years ago.

Claire: Whoa, wait… all this time?!

Quil: I know…

Claire: That's kinda a little creepy Quil, I was like two.

Quil: It wasn't like that Claire but a little strange, I guess.

Claire: Hot though…

Quil: Hot?

Claire: Yeah, cuz you're mine.

Quil: Forever.

We kissed sweetly a few more times before he pushed me into my front door. I didn't sleep well that night, worrying about "the talk" with Emily. I hopped out of bed early, the sun barely lighting the horizon, not wanting to lie awake any longer. I took a shower, dressed carefully, unnecessarily blow-dried my hair straight, and even put on makeup (something I had not done in a long time). When I couldn't put it off anymore, I headed out my front door.

After having driven the day before I felt more confident about driving to Emily's house alone but Quil was waiting for me; looking all delicious in a white t-shirt and khaki shorts. We drove in silence and arrived at Emily's house just as the pack was heading out.

They all looked exhausted and Anna gave me a short hug before dragging Michael out the door. They were adorable together and I wondered momentarily if they had imprinted, and if they had, who had imprinted on whom. Could girls imprint on boys?

Emily had started breakfast super early, feeding the entire pack after a very wild patrol, where they split in two groups and chased a coven of four vamps half way to Port Angeles before they caught them. Quil grabbed a muffin, kissed my cheek and headed out, nodding to Emily as he went.

Emily didn't start the talk right away which made me increasingly more nervous. I sat nibbling on her famous chocolate peanut butter pancakes, before Kim, and Rachel arrived. Seth's adorable girlfriend, Natalia was watching the kids today, a major task because there was six among them all. When I realized it would be all four of us I started to panic.

Rachel Black-Wise, a sweet and calm girl spoke first, "Wow, what a connection, huh?" I could tell she was not digging the silence and wanted to get this started already.

"Yeah, so you're officially a wolf-girl now," Kim said raising her eyebrows.

"How does one _officially_ become a wolf-girl?" I asked hoping to push the conversation off-course.

"Look Claire, you know what I'm going to say, so I'm just gunna say it. I know what it feels like— the thrill of the imprint, but you are absolutely too young and not ready for a sexual relationship yet," Emily said quickly, as if she had rehearsed the speech earlier.

"Shit! Is that the kinda sex-talk we were having? I thought we were gunna give pointers on not being squished by a mammoth man," Kim said looking at Emily confused. I couldn't hold in my laughter as Emily's eyes widened.

Rachel nodded in agreement and added, "Or die of heat stroke!" She looked at Kim and together they sighed, "hydration," before bursting into school-girl like giggles.

"She's seventeen!" Emily protested.

"Yeah... well, so was I," Kim said lighting a cigarette as she walked out onto the back porch. Rachel and I followed, and Emily sat frozen in place.

"Yeah, well Kim you were a different story all together. Are you going to get her smoking now too," Emily asked as she joined us on the porch.

"No! They're bad for you, kiddo," Kim said seriously.

"Okay, come on, Kim… Claire, Emily might be right," Rachel started, and when Emily shot her a venomous glare amended, "Emily is right!"

"I didn't say I was going to have sex with him today," I said turning red.

"You're blushing, Claire. How cute—Well, if you're not ready to talk about sex, you're not ready to have it," Kim said taking another drag of her cigarette.

"I can talk about it," I whined my voice was too high. They looked at me skeptically and I continued, "no really, I wanna know about being squished, and heat stroke and hydration. Really, I do!" Emily laughed finally and her eye sparkled warmly.

"You're really going to do this?" Emily asked hugging me.

"Yeah, when the time is right," I answered, wishing he was here so I could make it the right time. I hated how long it had been since I'd seen him, but he was probably sleeping after a long patrol.

"Well then, I guess we're going to have to give you all of the dirty details!" Emily said winking at Kim.

"Aww, it's seems like just yesterday we were doing this with Nessie," Rachel said smiling sweetly.

"Yeah, she was a little freaked out," Emily nodded.

"Yeah, but Nessie is a freaky mutant girl, she can't be crushed like you, Claire," Kim added.

"Hey! That's my future sister-in-law," Rachel protested.

"Sorry, Rachel," Kim paused, and as she flicked her cigarette over the side of the porch she whispered, "she is a freak though," just to me.

Rachel rolled her eyes but didn't protest, she just headed back in the house and we followed

We sat quietly around the table as Emily made a fresh pot of coffee, my hands sweating from anticipation.

"Well, first is the size issue, as Kim pointed out— you don't want to be _squished_ ," Emily started.

"And it's not just his weight we're talking about here when we say _size_ ," Kim added. I instantly regretted agreeing to this discussion.

"Oh no she's not," Rachel agreed. I looked down at my glass, hoping they didn't realize I was starting to sweat slightly at my hairline.

"Well, that's an issue too," Emily warned, "But I was thinking more along the lines that they can get extremely… exuberant. They don't really realize they're hurting you."

"They feel really terrible afterwards though, when they see the bruises on your hips or arms," Rachel interjected.

"Or ass," Kim added laughing. I was curious about how exactly you got bruises on your backside, but felt I would look juvenile if I asked.

"Mmm, imprinting guilt for hurting you can kill the mood," Emily said sagely.

"Yeah, you can't do very much about the size of the _instrument_ , but when things are getting intense, you can try some creative positions," Rachel said meekly.

"Yeah, us wolf-girls gotta get used to life on the top," Kim cut-in winking.

My mouth went dry then; I would have laughed if I didn't know she was being completely serious. I never thought that much about sex, but when I did I was sure I would have the safe, no experience necessary spot on the bottom

"Well lying on your side is also pleasant," Rachel said as if she were discussion sports tactics. Kim eyed her, obviously intrigued.

"W-What if I don't know how?" I stuttered embarrassingly.

"It's not exactly rocket science," Kim said grinning.

"You'll um… get the hang of it," Emily said pouring herself another cup of coffee.

"And well, that's the beauty of imprinting, anything you do will be exactly what he wants, because he just wants you to be happy. So if you're enjoying yourself, so will he," Rachel added.

"I'm serious about the _size_ thing, it hurts. You'd better be ready for that," Kim said, suddenly serious.

"How do I get ready for _that,_ " I asked appalled. I hadn't thought about the pain, but then I hadn't honestly thought about that part of him. It must, well, be (gulp) proportionate with the rest of him. _Oh man!_ I never thought much past the idea of kissing him, which was probably why I was so enthusiastic for more. Now I was terrified, I could feel my face turning white… or at least whiter, pretty difficult to go white with a tan like mine.

"Breathing exercises," Emily whispered.

"You have to be completely relaxed. Completely," Rachel warned.

"Oh god, and the heat! That's a shocker!" Kim groaned.

"If it's all so painful and uncomfortable then why—never mind," I was going to ask, 'why bother', but before the words even passed my lips I realized I would probably still do it, right here, right now. Well maybe not right here...

"Yeah, I think you know the answer to that," Rachel said slyly.

"Stop scaring her you guys," Emily butt-in.

"It's not all pain and discomfort. It's pretty damn great when you get used to it," Kim said greedily.

"And the heat?" My voice croaked as I said this, remembering how hot he felt when he held me.

"That's easier to deal with. Air conditioning," Emily said looking away from me.

"And the heats sort of nice when you get adjusted," Rachel said sweetly.

"Yeah, but it's hard to be sexy when you're sweating like a pig… a fun and easy way to go down a dress size if you're in a pinch though," Kim chuckled.

"You gotta be careful though. It can… last a while, so you have to stay hydrated," Rachel advised.

"Again, a mood killer if you pass out in the middle," Emily pointed out.

"If they realize it!" Rachel cried. The rest of us looked at her with a mix of shock, disgust and humor. "Paul's… well, he's very energetic," she explained. I laughed for the first time, trying thoroughly to keep the images out of my head. It was way too much to suppress and I giggled more fervently. I couldn't hide my childish discomfort anymore. I thanked them excused myself, heading over to Quil's on foot.

His apartment wasn't far and I made my way through the store where Solace was chatting on his cell phone with one of his many girlfriends looking very cool. He winked seductively as I passed, and I giggled: he just sorta had that effect on ladies.

Solace's best friend Phil sat watching TV, as Jordan, academic and extremely handsome, sat on a crate of 7-up reading a very large book.

I dashed up the stairs and opened the door which led up to their tiny living room. Embry's room was to the right and his door was open, revealing him sprawled on the bed in red silk boxers. Seth stumbled out of his room then, dressed for the day, but looking fatigued.

"Oh— Hey, C-bear!" He smiled enthusiastically and the bags under his eyes seemed to wave.

"Hey, Seth. Where you going? Weren't you out patrolling all night?" I asked moving to his side. I always worried about Seth, he worked harder than a lot of the pack.

"Yeah, but Natalia is watching the smaller kids today—her birthday present to Rachel. I wanna help her out," he said yawning.

Seth was one of the kindest, warmest people I knew, in fact, he was my true first crush. Yup, eleven year old me was "in love" with Seth. The feelings didn't continue but I still cared for him very much. His girlfriend Natalia a young and beautiful latina who worked on the rez, was truly a lucky lady.

"I wish you would get some sleep first," I said patting his back.

"Can't, duty calls and my princess awaits," Seth said smiling and heading out the door holding his arm as if he were carrying a sword. "I'm really happy for you two, by the way," he said before sprinting out the door.

"Thanks," I called sure he would hear me as he went.

Quil was lying spread eagle on his huge bed which took up the majority of his room, and I yawned remembering my sleepless night. His position didn't allow me much room but I crawled in on his right side and snuggled against him drifting into blissful oblivion.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Claire- Raging Girlmones!

* * *

I had one week and 3 days, till school started again, and I didn't want to waste time. I was sticking to Quil with as much suction as possible. I spent the first week draped over Quil. In his shop. At his apartment. Everywhere Quil went I went, except for patrols, which were now the bane of my existence.

One thing was different though, after he told me he loved me (possibly the awesomest moment of my existence, although I couldn't bring myself to respond), Quil cautiously avoided any more physical contact with me than was necessary… for him, because it was never enough closeness for me.

Even after the dreaded "You're-too-young-for-sex" sex-talk with Emily, and the much more interesting, however embarrassing and slightly disturbing, "How-not-to-be-squished-or-die-of-heat-stroke-from -sex-with-a-werewolf" sex-talk with the rest of the girls, I was not distracted from my desire.

Quil was mine. Mine forever. Just like Sam and Emily, Jared and Kim, and all the other imprinted couples, we were going to love each other forever. We were going to get married. One day I was going to have Quil babies: little adorable Quil pups with beautiful deep brown eyes like his, and curly black hair like his… which hung so sexily above his ear, and his deep reddish tan that drove me crazy... _Man I want him soo bad!_ So why the wait? Why should we be denying ourselves all the sexy-lusty perks of our magical bond?

The yearning (a word I have never used before now) for Quil was maddening, I started to see new things about him, like the curve of his collarbone and the cuts along his abs that led perfectly down to his— cold showers. Cold showers were definitely not a joke to me anymore. EVery night I pelted myself with ice cold water but it wasn't much help. I started to dream about him, which made for very awkward mornings when Quil woke me up.

Quil did his best to distract me from my raging girlmones, but it didn't stop me from launching myself at him whenever I had the opportunity. His preferred distractive activities included: movie night with my mom, driving up to see Lana, and going to the hot springs. When none of these pleased me, we went 'back-to-school' shopping which was definitely not something Quil enjoyed.

To be honest I'm not much of a shopper myself, I like new things, but I hate trying on clothes, and Lana usually made most of the major decisions. She was a master at bargain hunting and deciding what looked good and what didn't. Quil on the other hand told me everything I tried on was gorgeous on me and continued to tell me to get whatever I wanted because he had money.

I didn't like that, I had my own money—but he was insistent. I ended up with two new pairs of pants, five shirts and a pair of cute shoes, and all my saved money left unspent in my wallet. I kept eyeing stores as we passed, thinking of the ridiculous boxers or useless nick-knacks I could get him. I wanted to buy him something but he didn't leave my side during the entire time we were in Olympia.

This caused a bit of stir to onlookers. It was the first time we left La Push since our relationship changed, and I tried to look at it objectively. I'm a tiny seventeen year old who looks more like a fifteen year old, and he is a massive thirty something, who can't pass for younger than twenty three.

Almost every mother-figure who passed us threw eye-daggers at our connected hands, or tutted in obvious mortification. One woman actually looked teary eyed as I held onto Quil, who was paying for my shoes at the counter.

I was beginning to get more and more self conscious as we headed to the food court, trying to subtly release my hand from Quil's firm grip. We ate in silence and I was thrilled to be heading home, imagining another opportunity for me to literally throw myself at Quil.

We made it back to my house just past 7 and I recognized the car in the driveway immediately. I jumped out before Quil had finished parking, flying up the stairs and through the front door before he could stop me.

"DADDY!" I called through the house, I could hear his rough laugh in the kitchen and I hurried forward. He caught me in a bear-hug and kissed my forehead.

"Wow, lil-bit! You got so big!" His hair had much more grey in it now, but for the most part the rest of him remained unchanged.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were working in Costa Rica until October?" I screamed, dancing in a circle around him. My father worked for Starbucks, he did quality control, so when my parents divorced it was a good opportunity for him to travel with the company, "ensuring the standards of Starbucks coffee beans are upheld in all corners of the world."

He sent me emails and postcards constantly, Costa Rica, Argentina, Rwanda, but I missed him. Seeing him now made me realize exactly how much I missed him. I was dancing with joy, but my eyes quickly filled with tears.

"I'm back in Seattle for a bit. I got back yesterday," he answered the silent question in my eyes. Quil walked in then, the faucet of tears from my eyes alarmed him and he was at my side in a second, not even registering my dad presence.

"I'm fine, Quil," I murmured softly, brushing his cheek with my palm. My dad's figure grew rigid in front of me and I pulled away quickly.

"Jo, we need to talk," he said curtly to my mother, throwing a death glare at Quil before he left.

"I think you better go," I warned him, kissing him lightly on the lips. He dropped the shopping bags on the table and settled into an armchair looking concerned.

"I'm not so sure about that," Quil said sharply.

"What? What's up?" I asked sitting on his lap and turning to face him. God, he was truly the master of sexiness, his eyes were so deep and—

"Your dad's going to be very, very angry and I don't want him to—I don't know… hurt you," he said kissing the tip of my nose.

"My dad would never hurt me, Quil!" Just then my dad burst into the room, wrenching me off of Quil's lap. Quil's hands extended making sure I didn't fall.

"Out!" My dad's face was uncharacteristically red.

"You okay, Claire-bear?" Quil asked, his hands shaking as he looked around my father to me. I was rubbing my forearms where my father had gripped me.

"OUT! OUT! OUT!"

"This isn't your house anymore, George!"

My mother screamed shrilly, coming between them as Quil's entire body started to tremble and shake violently that he blurred in my vision.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Claire- Adventures in Springerland

* * *

"OUT! OUT! OUT!"

"This isn't your house anymore, George!"

My mother screamed shrilly, coming between them as Quil's entire body started to tremble and shake violently that he blurred in my vision.

I rushed to Quil's side, standing between him and my family. He was going to explode and I would rather pay the price than them; I had caused this commotion as it were, with my super girlmones and inability to keep my hands to myself.

When he saw me, he clenched his jaw and breathed deep. I stood on my toes so I could touch his face. His skin was hotter than usual and it frightened me. "Calm down, Quil," I pleaded. His tremors stopped almost immediately.

"Are you having SEX with MY daughter? Because let me tell you Quil, I don't care about your wolf-print SHIT, you're thirty years old and she's just a child! YOU PERVERTED FUCK!"

And that's when it got all Jerry Springer!

He launched himself at Quil, I was standing between them but Quil pushed me aside just as my dad's blows reached him.

"Dad, you're gunna hurt yourself," I screamed, not daring to get closer as he continued to punch Quil's chest, which was at my dad's eye level. Every punch that landed on Quil made me feel sick, I knew it wouldn't even hurt him but it was like two sides of me battling. The love for my dad and the love for my Quil.

One side screamed: _Quil you better not break my daddy._

And the other side cried: _You better stop hittin' on my man, Pops…_

Okay, maybe not exactly those words, but the same sentiment. There was crunching sound, and I was certain it was my dad's hand but he didn't stop.

"George, I'm calling the police!" My mother screamed, just as my father seemed to collapse from fatigue.

"Go ahead, I want him arrested for statutory rape!"

"We aren't having sex, George," Quil spoke for the first time, he sounded winded.

I don't like drama. I know a ton of girls who live for it. They create it, they gossip about it and they generally marvel in it but this confrontation made me feel sick.

My mother begged Quil to go and he gave me a heartfelt look of apology as he went. I wanted to tell him he had done nothing wrong and that I was humiliated beyond belief by my father but I was speechless, something that rarely happened to me. I didn't think of the right words till he was already out the door and my tears started up again.

When my father was finally calmed down and my mom escorted him out of the house his parting words rang through the hall. _"It's time I take a bigger part in her upbringing. I can't stand by and watch this-this arranged marriage! I'm ready to fight dirty for custody this time, Joanna."_

I threw myself carelessly on my bed and moaned when I landed on my blow-dryer. "ow shit!" I groaned. Quil rushed to my side, startling me. Although he looked worried for me, I could see a different underline dread.

"I'm fine," I whispered, scooping the blow-dryer up and throwing it on my nightstand. I rolled over, trying to make room for Quil on my twin size bed. I ended up half on top of him, inhaling his piney sea scent and whispering my apologies. His breathing was even and after a while I thought he was sleeping, until his arm came around my waist, pulled me closer.

"None of this is your fault, Claire. Please don't blame yourself, I'll feel terrible," he whispered, the warmth of his breath tickling my ear pleasantly.

"You're the two ost important men in my whole life and I don't want to have to choose between you. And what is he even thinking?"

"He's thinking he loves you, and doesn't want to see you hurt. I understand that. I respect that. I respect your family and you would never have to choose between us," Quil's eyes penetrated mine and I could see the honesty, the love, and the caring so apparent there, I melted. I honestly felt as if I had melted into a gigantic puddle of mush!

"Yes, but… Quil what if he tries to make me leave with him. You don't want me to leave do you?" I asked. I was still in liquid form, unable to move.

"If that's what you want, then yes," he kissed my cheek and I whispered into his chest.

"I want you, Quil. I want to be with you. I've waited soo long for this, for you."

"You have no idea how that makes me feel, Claire. I can't imagine how I got so lucky," he said kissing me very gently. He looked at me with awe and I felt slightly self-conscious.

"Quil, you…" I didn't know how to finish this—I had never been much of a touchy-feely girl. I could easily express anger, hate, irony, sarcasm any emotion but love. Trying to explain to Quil what he meant to me was impossible, because I knew it was the very truest, purest of loves. To me Quil meant almost everything, he was the reason I laughed, my comfort, he helped make me who I am, I was a reflection of him and those parts of me were the parts I loved most.

I stared at him and I could see his worry. Did he actually think I could not love him? I know I hadn't said it yet, but it was hard for me, he knew that right? He must know, must be aware of how I felt."Quil, you are so much more than any one girl deserves. You're like the whole knight in shining armor meets BFF meets… I don't know, sexy teen heart throb from some boy band—" I realized how much of an ass I was making of myself and shut my mouth immediately. Quil chuckled, that beautiful deep chuckled that formed in his chest and I joined in, laughing at myself.

"That's um… quite the flattering description," Quil said kissing my forehead.

"Shut-up! You know what I mean, right? You're my magical protector-man, and best friend and… you're sexy, okay," I looked away, embarrassed having to explain my attraction to him out loud.

"You think I'm sexy?" he asked pulling my chin up to face him.

"Oh _god_ , YES!" This was the first time we were truly alone together since the day we first kissed, and I blushed imagining what would come next. He kissed me, but the passion was turned down, he was being reserved and I threw my leg over him, desperate for the heat of our first kisses.

The kiss deepened, my body sliding down as he propped himself up on his elbows. I rocked my hips forward a few times; the rubbing of our bodies was intoxicating. His hands enclosed around my hip, gluing me still. The loss of my much needed friction made me ache and I groaned in his mouth from disappointment.

"Quiiiil," I whined. "I want you," I whispered feeling as if I were about to burst. I hopped fully on top of him, sliding my tongue past his lips. He rested one hand on my thigh and the other cupped my ass. At first they just rested there but eventually I could feel them guiding me forward and backward.

My breathing got heavier and I rushed trying to get my shirt off. When it was off Quil leaned forward kissing my breast through the thin fabric of my bra. I burned, grinding myself harder against his erection which rested in an ideal place between my legs.

"Claire, I don't think we should do this?" His statement sounded more like a question. Hemoaned as I put my hand between us feeling his bulging hardness.

"We could, at least touch a little. Quil… I need this, I need you," I whispered and he flipped us settling between my legs which were spreading embarrassingly wide for him. His hands brushed down my ribs stopping at the rim of my shorts before slipping under brushing the top of my underwear. He made figure eights with his index finger over my panty-covered mound and I twitched, whining involuntarily.

"God you smell so good," he whispered angling his head towards my stomach which he kissed lightly. I squeezed my legs together locking his hands there and rubbing myself against it, desperate to feel him.

"Claire? Can I…" he asked pushing the side of my cotton undies aside slightly but not pressing forward.

"Please Quil," I begged embarrassed but close to dying from the pressure of my need. His fingers slowly slid down, coated in my wetness so that his movements were fluid. He rubbed slow circles across my clit making me claw and moan and whine until I was close to screaming and he slipped his finger down, the tip of it sliding in until just past the nail before he pulled out, dropping off the bed on his knees. He was clutching his head and I could see he was in pain. "What's wrong?" I rushed to his side.

"Put your shirt on," he begged. Hurt and confused I flung myself over the bed grabbing my shirt and putting it back on.

"What the hell was that?"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Quil- Wolf Cubs

* * *

I could hear her breathing get heavier and I fought with all my strength to stay calm. It wasn't sex so I wasn't breaking any rules.

Now, normally this would have just left me uncomfortably tight in the pants. That would have been fine, but two days ago, when my passion for Claire was stopping my ability to be with her casually, I begged Sam to give me an order.

An order that would make it impossible for me to take the next step with Claire… until Sam told me it was ok. He didn't want to do it, he didn't like taking away our free will, but my ability to make proper judgment was taking a severe beating when Claire was involved.

He agreed to do it grudgingly, and when he did, I noticed it was much more general command than usual, which ought to have made it easier to break. However, it actually made it more difficult to be close to her because the reactions my body had made my intentions rather clear. In other words, if I got a severe hard-on I was in trouble.

So when my finger slipped inside of her my junk rested solidly against her thigh, I felt the most shocking pain I had felt in years.

I pushed her off of me as gently as possible and dropped off the bed onto my knees, clutching my head trying to stop the terrible ringing. My knees were locked, I couldn't move from the spot at the foot of her bed.

 _Think unsexy thoughts! Think unsexy thoughts!_

"What's wrong?" Claire asked rushing to my side, topless! I looked up at her again and the ringing grew louder, joined by a throbbing pain in my temples.

"Put your shirt on," I begged. The pain of going against the injunction was unimaginable.

"What the hell was that?" She asked now wearing the black shirt I bought for her birthday. The throbbing subsided and the ringing faded away, I sat with my knees to my chest for a second before I could speak.

"Well, funny thing about that," I started awkwardly.

"I have a feeling it's not funny at all," Claire said glaring at me, I hated that I made her angry, but above all else I didn't want to hurt her. If that meant waiting another year or even ten years I would, there was no one else, there never could be, I was bound to her. I wanted our first time to be planned, and agreed on by consenting adults.

It wasn't romantic, but it was the best way I could think of to make sure it was what she really wanted, and not just her conforming to my fantasies. My fantasies which had gotten more detailed and wild as she allowed me to kiss and touch her soft skin…

"Sam gave me an alpha command, and you know I can't break it," I said looking away, I didn't want her to ask anything else, but I knew she would.

"And was the command that you couldn't touch me?" Claire asked sarcastically.

"Not that exactly," I wanted to leave it at that, but my desire to please her made me continue, "I can't have sex with you until he gives me the okay. Which will probably be when you are eighteen."

"What? That asshole, how dare he decide anything about MY sex-life. And why eighteen? I hate that idea! What's the difference, you don't wake up on your eighteenth birthday as an adult. In China I'm already 18!" Claire was babbling. I loved it when she babbled but her face twisted with anger and I knew I couldn't let her keep blaming Sam, so I fessed up.

"I made him give it to me. I made him give me the command because I knew I wouldn't be able to control myself and I need to," I said quickly.

"Why? Why, Quil? Why do you need to control yourself? You're mine right? And I'm yours? And you're not going to leave me right? You want to be with me fore—" she stopped then, looking embarrassed, she walked to the window, her bare back in the black shirt glowing in the light from the street. She was breathtaking, I felt a tugging in my stomach trying to pull me to her side, but I fought it.

"Yes, Claire, of course, and I do want to be with your forever," the words came out before I could stop myself and I felt like a tool. I hated being all dramatically lovey, and I hated saying things that would make Claire feel obligated to stay with me. She was the most perfect girl in the world; I hated the idea of keeping her at my side if she would be happy elsewhere. She turned back to me then, her smile lighting up the room.

"Quil," was all she said before launching herself on top of me. We lie on the floor for sometime before she spoke again.

"Forever?" I nodded.

"Like Sam and Emily?" I nodded again.

"Then whhhy, Quil? If we're going to be together _forever_ , and have little wolf cubs—then why, for the love of God Quil, did you make Sam do that," she demanded glaring down at me.

"Wolf cubs?"

"Or puppies, or whatever. You know what I mean!"

"So, you want to have _my_ _children_?" I asked making sure I understood her right. I'd never heard anyone refer to children as cubs or puppies.

"Well, not right now—but we could practice ya, know?" She looked irritated and I kissed her again.

"My children?" I asked again dumbfounded.

"Shut-up, Quil. Yes, your children. I mean I wanna get married first then—" She turned dark red and jumped off of me, she was embarrassed. I didn't understand why and I couldn't really think because the weight of her words crushed me, _Claire_ wanted to marry _me_.

"Me?" Was all I could muster.

She looked amused and also brave as she stepped forward, grabbed my hand and said very calmly. "Yes, Quil. You. So? What do you think? Wanna marry me?"

I tried to stay cool and calm as my heart beat wildly in my chest. "Not sure that's legal just yet"

"Hey don't laugh at me! I just asked you to marry me and you're laughing!" Claire squealed.

"Sorry, you just caught me off guard—I mean, I'm supposed to be the one to ask. I didn't expect it," I apologized.

"Yeah, I'm not gunna wait around for that to happen. Quil, your way too sissy to make moves on me," Claire said hitting my arm.

"Really? If I remember correctly, it was me who kissed you. And me who told you I loved you," I shouldn't have said that. I realized it when she tensed. I told her I loved her and she didn't respond… well she kissed me, but she didn't return the words. I hadn't brought it up even though it concerned me.

"Okay… well, fine. I'll make the next two moves then," she said straddling me and kissing me passionately.

Her soft body was cool, and smelled like her customary honey and almond, with a mix of her lightly musky arousal. She pulled her lips away slightly and whispered "I love you," before kissing me again.

I never felt so happy in my life, my hand caressing the soft bare skin of her back and a slight ringing started in my ears but I ignored it. "So, marry me," she said between more kisses.

I wasn't sure what to say, there was really nothing in my life I wanted more than being with Claire, but she was so young and I couldn't bear denying her the chance to experience the world. She pulled away, her eyes looked sad and before I could stop myself I blurted it out, "Well yeah, duh."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Claire- Making the Japanese Blush

* * *

I woke up sweating and sore, but happy! Quil had slept with me that night, and I watched him now in the morning hours, his beautiful tan skin glowing in the sunlight from my window. I basked in his loveliness, his bare chest rose and fell like a timed dance, and I slowly got up, stretching out of the uncomfortable position I had fallen asleep in.

He wore only his boxers and I was shocked when I realized I was in a similar state of undress, wearing only a pair of black boy shorts. I must have undressed in the middle of the night when his body heat was stifling, because (unfortunately for me) last night was only sleeping! No passionate kissing, no heavy petting, not even any dry humping, which I knew from the sage advice of my sister Lana, never stays dry for long.

I hopped off the bed, searching for a shirt before Quil woke up. I didn't want him to have any reason for not staying over again and I was pretty sure a massive headache in the morning would not be pleasant. I covered my itty-bitties with my left arm and turned to face the bed looking for the shirt I fell asleep in, when I saw Quil rolled on his side watching me.

"Sorry," I blushed, dashing into my closet, grabbing the first shirt I could find and forcing it over my head.

I looked down to see I was donning an ancient t-shirt that belonged to Lana circa second grade. So, I hopped out of the closet, clad in a hideous pink shirt with Japanese children's cartoons. Not at all sexy, so I guess it fulfilled its purpose but there was something unsavory about wearing a children's shirt depicting the shows that had invaded the West during my childhood, thus creating a generation of Japanophiles who had unrealistic standards of normal human interactions. Japan had fascinated me at that age and fueled a summer long google-searching obsession, resulting in an onslaught of porn that scarred me for life. I blushed at the mere memory of it, though I doubted he would make the connection between tentacle porn and Pokemon like I did.

"It's okay, don't apologize… I was just enjoying the view," Quil said smiling his giant white smile that gave him the most perfect one-sided dimple. The same dimple that made me want to jump him and do all sorts of pornographic things that I was sure would make even the Japanese blush.

"I thought my _body_ gave you enchanted migraines," I said climbing on top of him as seductively as possible. Although I was 100% sure I wanted nothing more than to have sex with him, I was feeling far from sexy with my unbrushed hair and teeth.

"I thought so too, but… I feel fine now. Better than fine," he said as I reached his face, kissing him lightly. my sexual desire for him was far beyond normal teenage hormone-y influence or whatever, _I needed him_. I begged my body to stay cool and calm, but there were only two very thin pieces of material between us now and my body's overwhelming need for him forced me to conspire on how best to remove those two pieces.

I crawled to his ear, breathing hotly whispering. "Quil baby, can we at least… _try_ can't we?"

He pulled me closer, I noticed his breathing change as his hand slid down my back and over my derrière—down to my thighs, pulling them up so I was straddling him.

He licked my bottom lip before kissing me full on, and taking my breath away, literally. I always hated those expressions, "breathtaking", "takes your breath away" they seemed so insincere. Also, the stupid song "Take My Breath Away" and its consequent 20 million remakes did not help the cause.

When he kissed me though, it actually happened (as if he punched me hard in the gut) all the oxygen I didn't know I had stored in my lungs escaped.

One of his hands trailed up my thigh, past my waist and under the child sized pink shirt which I couldn't help but think was kinky. When his fingertips grazed my rib cage I trembled embarrassingly; I continued to shake lightly as I smiled down encouragingly at him. He looked me in the eyes the whole time, while mutant-steroid-monster-butterflies tangoed in my stomach. He inched his hand up slowly until his middle finger traced the bottom of my breast.

The excitement, the danger, the raw emotions of it all was unexplainable, but the _want_ way outweighed the rest. I wanted him more than anything in my entire life. When I felt as if I were about to beg for his mercy, his body stiffened below me... not just one part of his body, but the entire body.

"Nope sorry, sorry, sorry! I really tried," he howled frantically rubbing his temples and grimacing. My mom burst in the room then and for the second time today I dove into the closet.

"Are you okay?" I heard her ask him, her voice returning to that husky MILF drawl she adopted in the presence of all attractive men. I came out, pulling on a pair of yoga pants and stumbling. She looked at me with a mix of jealousy, curiosity and motherliness, before saying, "How nice of you to join us my beautiful _minor_."

"Mom, come on. I'm seventeen, we all know what Lana was doing when she was seventeen."

My mom had Lana when she was just a year older than me, and she was always open and straightforward with us about sex.

"You're not Lana, and the situation is different," she said casting a look back at Quil who was trying to find his shorts.

"Yeah, I'm not, Lana. Lana told me, and I quote, * _sex is great, have as much of it as possible before you have to settle with one man and ruin your body with children_ ," I said crossing my arms defiantly.

"Yes, well -she was quoting me- but," she started, clearing her throat, "she didn't have your father calling lawyers."

"Lawyers," I gulped.

"He also called the tribal council, asking for your immediate removal until legal matters are resolved. They're coming over at two to talk to us before they make a decision."

"What? What kind of decision? They can't take me out of my home if I don't want to right?" I asked, standing and pacing to Quil's side.

"Well, it's complicated, Claire. The reservation is governed by tribal law, you can never really be sure what those guys will do... Also, Miss Claire, you've put me in an awkward position. I can't in good conscious defend your chastity when I find naked Quileutes in your bed," she said sounding tired, yet amused.

" _Half_ naked," Quil corrected, finally managing to cover himself completely. My mother appraised him comically and turned to me. I was still frozen in place, my mind doing full laps, around and around. _Custody of a seventeen year old, was that even possible?_

"We're getting married," I blurted it out in some sort of defense, and smiled when I saw the goofy glow on Quil's face. My mom's body went rigid then; the fun, light, youthful, MILF was quickly replaced with a surprisingly scary _real_ mom.

"YOU'RE PREGNANT? CLAIRE! I thought I taught you guys better!" She bellowed.

"Whoa, whoa! It's not like that Joanna, we haven't even done _that_ ," Quil assured her.

"Yet," I added under my breath.

When Quil had promised her that his bits had never gone anywhere near my nether regions -his words not mine- she lightened up again.

"Well, that nice kiddos," she said dismissively. "But let's not mention that when they get here, kay?"

The Makah tribal council arrived just before 1:45 and I wasn't ready. I hurried to put on the most grown up clothing I could find, a green sundress Lana left behind. Quil was pushed out of my window by my mom and we ran down to greet them. The Makah reservation, population- _not enough to attract a Starbucks_ \- is governed by four super-old wrinkle bags who spend most of their energy on drug and alcohol prevention. So, I wasn't exactly sure how they were going to handle a custody battle over an "over-sexed" minor.

Ron Venske, his slightly less wrinkley son Jeremy Venske, Neah Branch and Tony Grant sat in my living room glancing at me occasionally as I fiddled with the eyelet flowers along the rim of my dress. After my father arrived, coffee, pleasantries and snacks were distributed, and Ron, the oldest member got to business.

"It has been many years since the divorce, we didn't expect to be dealing with the custody of your daughters, especially considering their ages," he directed this at my father.

"And I wouldn't have dreamed of bothering you with it if Joanna wasn't allowing my daughter to have a physical relationship with a thirty year old man," my father responded glaring at my mother.

My parents had met at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture where my grandfather curated the Native American exhibit. They were very young when they fell in love but they used to be very happy… it made me sad to think of how quickly they turned on each other.

"Ugh! Dad, Quil and I haven't even—"

My mother cut me off, "They aren't having a physical relationship, I can assure you of that elder Venske," she said bowing her head a bit. I wasn't one for this whole curtsying to your elders thing, so I just kept quiet.

"Who is it she's supposedly having the inappropriate relationship with? Quil Ateara?" Neah spoke up, I eyed her quickly. I don't really know what she knew about him, if she knew the Quileute legends were true, but most people in town knew about our friendship at least.

"Yes, ma'am," my father confirmed.

"Well, this is an interesting situation," Ron sighed, then continued. "Well, I would like to meet the man," he said, gesturing for Tony to call. I waited another thirty tense minutes, trying not to notice the death glares my parents were shooting at each other, before Quil came followed by Sue Clearwater.

Sue sat on my right, leaving my left open for Quil. His heat radiated, sending out waves that calmed me. He sat entirely too far away for my liking, but his shoe touched mine, the only contact that was safe at that moment.

Sue spoke first which surprised me and Ron Venske. Sue, my great aunt is a Makah (like me), but after marrying a Quileute man and moving to La Push she became very involved in the community. She was now one of the highest members of the tribe and also the best choice for this particular meeting, seeing as Jeremy Venske was her high school sweetheart. "Ron, Jeremy, this is ridiculous. Quil is a great boy, a 'Tribe Protector', owner of a local market that hires and supports—"

"I don't care if he volunteers at the orphanage!" My father bellowed. "He's thirty plus years old, and trying to date my daughter," my father continued.

"He's 24," Sue said quietly.

"For like ten years!" My father was turning red in the face.

"Dad, chill," I whispered.

"Yes, well," Ron started, giving Sue a knowing glance, "twenty-four or fourty-six it doesn't change the situation much," he finished.

"Yeah it does! She's seventeen," my dad argued.

"And sixteen in the age of consent in our good state of Washington. I'm sorry George, you're a great guy, but you don't have a case," Jeremy spoke up, Quil moving almost indecipherably closer.

And with that was everything settled but I still felt uneasy. Quil and I headed to Emily's to tell them the good news, both about our engagement and him not going to jail. It was getting near dinner time when we arrived, but Emily wasn't cooking. The house was empty and Quil stopped dead in his tracks when we walked half way through the door. He lifted his head, taking in a deep breath before picking me up and rushing me back to the car


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Quil- Sister

* * *

I tried to keep my eyes on the road, but it was difficult. Claire sat next to me in my truck, her long hair held up in a messy bun, wisps of mahogany hair falling down her back and on her cheeks. She was stunning, she wore a sage green sun-dress that stopped high on her long legs; it showed way to much of her thighs for me to concentrate. Her thighs… slender but muscled, tanned a beautiful coppery brown, spread ever so slightly. A ringing started in my ears again and I mentally slapped myself, trying to make it to Emily's house without causing a collision.

As we drove into the driveway I fiddled with the idea of asking Sam to lift the order, seeing as we were engaged now.

 _Engaged_.

I was waiting my whole life for this and now it seemed to come all at once, falling all into place way faster than I could have dreamed. I never once thought about marriage, how could I when Claire wasn't _Claire_ to me then. Yes she had always been my world, but now, she was so much more, I—

The smell interrupted my thoughts, it burned my nose and down my throat, and I felt rage break the surface. I picked Claire up, barely conscious of my hand resting on her ass, and hopped in back the car.

 _Vampires_.

I could smell vampires and I needed to get her out of here. The house had been empty, and now my mind started to register that fact. I needed to phase, but I first needed to get her away from danger. I stopped in front of Sue's house, ripped Claire out of the truck with me and ran inside. Sue wasn't in the front room like I expected. Natalia was there, holding Kim's youngest, her only daughter, Amber at her hip.

Natalia's eyes were watery and I could hear voices from the kitchen. Natalia was a sweet and pretty girl, teaching kindergarten on the Rez at the same school that Rachel taught.

"What happened?" I demanded. Sam's son Mark nodded for me to go to the kitchen a signal that it was pack things. Natalia didn't know about the pack, all she knew was we worked for the Quileute tribe as sort of private police force. Natalia didn't ask questions, she was not a Quileute or a Native at all, she came from Chicago and her family was Mexican. Normally she took everything we told her of the tribe as fact and respected it, one of the things I like most about her.

"I don't know, and no one will tell me," she said obviously upset, which emphasized her Spanish accent. Amber was pulling on her long curly black hair and she didn't seem to notice, her eyes flashing towards the kitchen. Ifound Sue, Kim, Rachel, Helen and Emily huddled in the farthest corner of the kitchen.

"What the hell?" I asked rushing forward.

"Seth's gone, so are Anna, Michael and Brady," Sue said turning to him.

"What do you mean gone?" I asked joining their tight circle.

"Alice Cullen came today. She ran with her mate, down from Canada where they were staying. She said that last night Nessie went hunting and didn't return, Edward picked up on a Volturi's thoughts nearby, but couldn't catch him. Jake's not right, he's gone catatonic or something. Seth and Embry were going to run up to Canada with Sam and the leeches, when they picked up on a scent. No not like one scent, a big group, maybe five or so— they phased, Michael, Anna, Collin and Brady were already tracking, then Jared joined them," Kim explained, but then stopped and lit a cigarette, Emily continued.

"Sam told them to get into two groups and one could go up north and one south, they split up and Seth's group just vanished. They were there, Michael, Anna, Brady and Seth taking the front and then there communication just stopped and—"

"What do you mean there communication just stopped," came Natalia's voice from the doorway. We turned to look at her, she had a blazing look in her dark eyes, as if daring any of them to say 'it's none of your business'.

"It went blank," Sue said looking me straight in my eyes. My body went numb. There were only three ways for brain communication to just vanish like that. One: They phased back. Two: They joined another pack. Three: They died. I couldn't breathe properly, and I could feel Natalia's eyes burning into me.

"Why are you so worried," she asked. I pushed past her, mumbling an apology and rushing out the house. Claire raced after me.

"Quil, God, please be careful, please," she pleaded, grabbing my hand.

"I love you," I whispered, kissing her cheek before running into the woods. I couldn't bring myself to promise I would be careful, because I could only see red. I could only feel brutal, unbridled rage. I have never lost a brother before, never imagined I could, so the pain and fury I felt was far more than I could have imagined.

Michael…

Anna…

Brady…

 _Seth…_

I felt the heat rise through my body and knew I wouldn't be able to undress before I exploded. I let out a howl just as fur sprang through my skin. I expected to hear a chorus of angry or grief stricken thoughts, but it was oddly silent.

For one terrifying moment I thought they were all gone, taken by the Volturi, and then I heard them.

Collin first, his thoughts switched back and forth between Brady and Helen. Helen and Brady. He desperately wanted to find Brady's body, but was terrified the Volturi would come back and get Helen.

The rest of their thoughts slowly filtered in. Jordan, Michael's older brother's mind was uncharacteristically frazzled. Jordan had the unique ability to block his thoughts completely but now there were only two words 'gone and dead' repeated like a whisper.

It was a search party, we were looking not only for the Volturi guard, but also for the remains of our fallen brothers… and sister.

The thought made me gag, Anna, my precious baby sister, one of the best additions to the pack since Seth.

 _Seth_.

My thoughts were mimicked by both Sam and Embry. Embry's mind was almost blank, it was disturbing, as if he were whispering in a giant empty room. His thoughts were usually pictures backed with powerful emotions but right now they were just outlines, flickers of moments Seth and Embry shared, I saw my face in some of them.

I could smell a fresh trail and as I headed down to follow it I was immediately flanked by my brothers. We weren't taking chances, we were not separating.

I never thought about dying before… no, I mean I have thought about dying, but not in the detailed way. I never wondered if you died as a wolf, would you stay in wolf form?

The answer was no. I could see a limp naked form, twisted and half hidden under a tree.

 _Anna…_


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Quil- Brothers

* * *

 _Anna…_

 _Anna!_

 _ANNA! ANNA!_

 _Not Anna! Please!_

 _Anna…_

Her name continued to ring through my head but I couldn't decipher their origins. Sam dropped down next to her body, phasing quickly and stroking her tangled hair with his mud caked fingernails. I couldn't look anymore, I forced my body to turn away. Embry's massive head nudged my shoulder and I turned to look into his dark eyes. There was a gasp from behind me and I reared back, ready to fight. It was Sam who gasped and Paul phased then, pulling on shorts and dropping next to Sam.

"What?" His voice sounded childlike then and I listened harder. Sam was silent, he held his ear to Anna's bare chest and I heard it too. So faint. So slow. Anna's heart thumping.

Paul picked her up and Sam dressed quickly following Paul back to Sue's. We joined them, and for the first time as protectors—as a pack— we didn't think about the town, we didn't think about protecting, we thought only of Anna, our thoughts were singular, and determined.

When we reached Sue's house I realized I had no clothes to wear, the rest of them phased and entered Sue's home. I paced back and forth for a second before giving into my desire and rushing into the house. Leah was the first person I saw; she was standing away from most of the group, closest to the door. Solace taking her side, leaning against the door frame next to her. When she faced me I was struck by the intensity of her eyes— her eyes— which looked as if she was simultaneously screaming in pain and fury, but she stood completely still. She must have phased, she must have run from Seattle, because there was no other way she could have gotten here that quickly.

I felt more sympathy for her than ever before. I knew how hard it was for her to stop phasing, both Jared and Paul had tried unsuccessfully. Leah had spent years dedicating her life to yoga and zen breathing to deny her werewolf nature, but for Seth there was nothing she wouldn't do.

After having been in Jake's pack with her, I knew two very real things about her. Leah's heart was broken beyond repair- but she loved her family entirely. When she saw me, when her eyes actually focused again and she realized my situation, she dipped in the house returning with a pair of sweats.

I phased with my back turned to her and pulled them on. I turned just as Natalia, her face having turned completely white, eyes wide in disbelief fainted into Claire's arms.

Alice and Jasper called Carlisle as soon as Anna arrived, we couldn't take her to the emergency room; her temperature, and her quickly healing wounds forced us to wait in silence for his arrival. Sue and Emily dressed Anna in pajamas and laid her carefully out on the couch.

Natalia who had recovered, now sat on the armchair next to the couch. After she saw me phase it took surprisingly little time to explain, which again she accepted, although she was a little jumpy, throwing terrified glances around the room in between sobs for Seth. Because Seth had never imprinted on her we never expected her to learn about the pack, I was a little impressed by her calm.

It was just past one in the morning and I knew Claire was tired, I tried to get her into my truck and back home but she put her foot down, literally and figuratively. She leaned on me, her eyes steadily streaming silent tears for Anna, who she loved very much. Paul, who adored Anna and treated her much like a daughter stared at the couch in eerie uncharacteristic silence.

Most of the big cuts and scars were healing, but even after two hours she didn't stir. Alice, who had studied medicine with Edward at Boston University in the nineties, gave Anna a general examination, although it made the majority of the pack (especially Paul) uneasy, causing Jasper to send out a whammy of calm that made me drowsy.

Alice very gently lifted, and poked, she even ran her nose along her body sniffing deeply and making the pack uncomfortable once again. Paul let out a low growl and Rachel pulled him to the kitchen. Alice must have sensed the discomfort then, because she turned to us and glared saying, "gentleman, really," before gingerly checking Anna's scalp.

Jacob and the rest of the Cullen clan, minus Nessie arrived a little past three, about twenty minutes after I placed Claire in Seth's bed. It had been quite some time since I had seen them all together and it was a chilling and disturbing sight. My wolf instincts made the hairs on my arms stand on end and I found myself edging towards Seth's room, blocking the entrance.

Both Bella and Jacob looked as if they could easily be knocked to the ground, weak and broken. Embry and I both rushed to Jacob's side instinctively, he seemed to look through us, and I couldn't imagine for one second the pain he felt, because I had never and hopefully would never lose my imprint.

"She's not lost." It was the first thing Edward had said since entering the room and I wasn't even sure he was talking to me until I saw his unsettling topaz eyes directed at me.

"So-sorry," was all I could say, grabbing Jacob's arm and leading him into the kitchen.

"You hungry man?" Embry asked him.

"She's gone, Embry," was his response.

"No man, don't think like that," Embry responded, his eyes pleaded for me to join in. I couldn't think of anything to say, because I couldn't think of any words that would comfort me if I had lost Claire.

"She's not lost," Edward insisted again, entering the room, glaring at me and then kneeling in front of Jacob.

"Jake. Jacob. Brother! Look at me," Edward insisted, "We can't just burst into Volterra. I know— you have to believe me. I know what you're feeling, but we can't go and start a fight with them, that's what they want!"

Jacob looked down at him for the first time, and it was a surprisingly intimate moment— I hadn't seen them together since Nessie was just a baby, but it was suddenly apparent that Jacob and Edward were brothers. Bonded like a pack.

"She's moving!" The scream came from Collin and I darted from the kitchen, crashing into Emmett as I reached the living room. I almost fell from the impact and he smiled slightly, patting my back as I turned to look for Anna. She was on her side and Carlisle knelt on the floor in front of her, watching patiently.

Paul was not as patient and he called out, "Anna, you okay?"

Her eyes fluttered open quickly. Her werewolf senses were keen and smelling the danger around her, she shot up and towards Krys and Solace who stood huddled in the corner. She lost her footing and Bella caught her, pushing her back in a vertical position. Anna's eyes flashed with recognition and relief and she collapsed into Bella's arms again. Bella tenderly lifted her and placed her back on the couch.

"Anna, honey, can you tell me what happened tonight?" Bella asked sweetly. Anna's eyes scanned the room once, twice, three times, and then suddenly burst into sobs. The sobs were deep and so loud that Claire came crashing out of Seth's room, knocking into a bored looking Rosalie.

Claire backed away from Rosalie slowly and pushed through the throng, reaching Anna and pulling her into an embrace. Claire rubbed her back in circles and murmured rhythmically in her ear.

"There were four of them, w-we were evenly matched, but they had p-powers or something, Claire, I-I cou-couldn't," Anna pleaded with Claire, ignoring the rest of the room around her. Claire stopped her with a few 'shhhs' and 'I knows', her eyes meeting mine in such terrible pain I almost doubled over.

"They to-took them," Anna finished.

"What?"

"Who?"

"What the Fuck?"

"Why didn't they take you?"

"Where?"

"How'd you get away?"

"How do you know they took them?"

The pack and the coven exploded in questions simultaneously and Anna curled farther into Claire's embrace, hiding her face. Carlisle stood, raising his hands and silencing his coven, the pack continued to murmur until Sam spoke.

"Quiet, please. I need you guys to give her some space, please. Step outside."

The pack started to disperse, followed by the coven. I would have gone, but my heart, my Claire still sat with Anna. I saw Paul, Sam and Edward had stayed behind as well, he watched Bella who sat silently with her knees to her chest on the floor next to the couch.

"Anna, what do you mean they took them?" Paul finally spoke, his voice was always very warm when he talked to Anna, but it was even more so now.

"There were four of them. Two of them were wearing robes, Volturi, I think an-and one of the four without a robe, sh-she—when we came forward— she turned to us and I felt cold, cold all over," she trembled as she said this. "And I was phasing back, I didn't want to, I tried to keep my form but I couldn't. Michael grabbed me and we tried to run but, I don't know, everything happened so fast and we were separated. They had a car waiting, Claire, like a police van but bigger. I got scared and I ran, I ran right into one of the cloaked ones and he hit me… that's all I can remember. I don't know why he didn't take me too," she said crying out again.

Carlisle stood and spoke, "Anna, you need to rest. You body needs to heal. You are recovering from substantial damage to your abdomen," he brought out a syringe and turned to Sam. "Where will she be resting?"

"Um, in Seth's room," Sam replied getting a nod from Sue in return

Paul lifted a sobbing Anna out of Claire's arms and into Seth's old bedroom. I pulled Claire into my arms and kissed her forehead, terrified by what I just heard. There vampires with the ability to keep us from phasing. How was I going to protect her?


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Claire- Jaws of Life

* * *

I tried to keep my face straight as I rubbed Anna's back, I didn't want to break down in front of Quil because I knew it would hurt him. I wanted to scream, and I wanted to throw things like a four year old denied a snack and most of all I wanted to cry, but I held it all in.

"There were four of them. Two of them were wearing robes, Volturi I think an-and one of the four without a robe, sh-she—when we came forward—she was the first one I saw—when we came forward she turned to us and I felt cold, cold all over," she trembled as she said this. "And I was phasing back, I didn't want to, I tried to keep my form but I couldn't. Michael grabbed me and we tried to run, but, I don't know, everything happened so fast and we were separated. They had a car waiting, Claire, like a police van but bigger. I got scared and I ran, I ran right into one of the cloaked ones and he hit me… that's all I can remember. I don't know why he didn't take me too," she screeched again and I wanted to join her. I wanted to scream to the sky, to curse all vampires everywhere and God for allowing them to exist but I kept my lips tightly pressed together.

"Anna, you need to rest, you had some substantial damage to your abdomen," Carlisle said holding a syringe with a sickeningly long needle,

"Where will she be recovering?"

Paul took a sobbing Anna out of my arms and into Seth's bedroom and Quil pulled me into his arms. When I looked into his eyes I saw something there I had never seen before: fear. I fought to keep my eyes clear of tears. This wasn't the time for my pain, I wanted to make it better for him but I knew I couldn't. How could I soothe someone who lost so much, three brothers, a roommate…

I replayed everything Anna said a dozen time because it was the most terrifying thing I ever heard. The possibility of Quil being in danger, not being able to phase and protect himself.

I had never really been afraid when he went on patrol, his massive size and confidence never let me believe that he could ever be bested. This fear was something new and electrifying; it sent shocks throughout my brain, lighting corridors and hallways of possibilities I didn't want to go down.

His _hold_ , the metaphorical hold that made him the constant center of my world, seemed stronger than ever. I didn't think I could possibly leave his arms, even if I wanted to. If I tried to explain why, people would laugh, but I wanted to be with him now more than ever, because if danger came to him I wanted to be there. Could I help? Probably not, but that didn't mean I wouldn't try. He bent down inhaling deeply and I mimicked him, enjoying the added smell of earth to his naturally musky aroma. He was close enough for me to kiss and I jumped on the opportunity.

"I love you," I whispered into his mouth. After saying it for the first time I felt like I couldn't stop saying it, because every time I did, my heart swelled. "I love you, I love you, I love you," I continued. He kissed me again and I deepened it, pulling myself as close to him as possible.

The kiss was dizzying, and I scrambled trying to press closer to him. I felt that short of melting into him, I could never be close enough. His hands slid down my back and crushed me tighter to his body, while his tongue traced the roof of my mouth and sent a shot down my spine.

Embry coughed loudly which sounded suspiciously like "jail-bait" as he re-entered the room with Jacob and Emily in tow. Sam came out of Seth's room then, as if he could sense Emily's presence, which now that I thought about it, he probably could. Quil and I didn't break apart, he rested his cheek on the top of my head and I looked out at the crowd daring them to make a fuss. They didn't.

"This explains some things for me at least," Edward said breaking the silence.

"How do you mean?" Carlisle said as he re-entered the room.

"The thoughts from earlier, in the forest… I heard their thoughts for only a moment in the clearing, and then they were unclear, foggy. They have a shield with them; this vampire she's blocking extra abilities, like you Bella."

"But I can't stop Jake or any of them from phasing," Bella protested.

"No two powers are the same," Carlisle reasoned.

"So who is she? Where did she come from?" Bella asked with new fire lighting in her shocking amber eyes.

"I saw her in Anna's thoughts, funny actually… well, not funny at all really, but you might remember her, Love. You met her once in your human life. It was her human life as well. Her name is Gianna, the receptionist at Volterra."

"Yes…I remember. So they decided to keep her," she said standing so still she looked like a statue, not like those statue performer guys in Seattle— spray painted gold posing for spare change— a real and super creepy, albeit extremely beautiful, statue.

"Apparently," he hissed. I watched them more closely now, they weren't physically close, in fact they were at least 3 feet apart, but there was something about their bodies—it seemed as if they were linked. I never thought about vampires and their mates before, I heard the tales, but never witnessed the couples up close. It reminded me strongly of imprinting and I wondered if they could feel such strong emotions without being _alive_. As if answering my questions Edward nodded towards me.

"Quil can we get out of here?" I whispered, feeling discomforted by the fact that a super old dude could read my thoughts.

"Jacob, would you stop screaming at me, please?" Edward interrupted, "We can't just go and test the theory without some information. If it doesn't work it would be risking the lives of Sam's entire pack and _our_ coven," he said looking at Jacob meaningfully. My heart began pounding uncontrollably, I didn't know why, I hadn't heard Jake's thoughts but whatever they were, if they risked Quil's life I didn't agree with them.

"What are you thinking brother?" Sam asked, placing his hand on Jake's shoulder. I didn't like the gesture, it was too friendly, and his tone of voice sounded much too much like he wanted to strategize.

Quil whispered in my ear, "Calm down, baby." He placed a hand over my heart and kissed my cheek. I looked at Emily, I couldn't be sure how _my_ face looked, it felt too numb from fear, but I guessed mine mirrored hers; twisted and pale.

"Bella can shield this _Gina_ girl and we can tear them apart. You think they're holding Nessie, maybe testing her abilities. So we still have time, Edward," Jake said a small glint returning to his eyes.

"Edward, I'm ready. We'll take our fighters Jasper and Emmett and anyone in the pack that is ready to fight," Bella said fiercely, almost growling. She shot a glance at Jake and there was a blazing camaraderie evident in their answering smiles.

"Bella, Love, think! If your shield… if it doesn't hold or it doesn't work against hers," he stopped himself, not able to finish.

"Well then our coven will have a fair fight. It's not the entire guard, just a handful. The dogs can stay at home," said the tall honey blond vampire as he re-entered the room.

I was offended by the dog comment but also terrified of him, or else I would have spoken, I was a wolf-girl after all. There was just something about the way he looked at us… not us as in _all_ of us but the girls, especially Natalia. He seemed hungry to me and I didn't want to give him reason to attack.

"Hell yeah! I was hoping to hear a war-cry!" Bellowed the mammoth vampire with the kind face, he reminded me pleasantly of Quil. They looked nothing alike of course, everything from their starkly contrasting skin color to their eyes were different, but there was something about the way he moved, the way he smiled that made me think he was safe… or as safe as a vampire could get.

Soon after the Emmet pledged to fight, the rest of the women Alice, the obvious mother-figure Esme, and the blond bombshell came to flank their mates, silently joining the right. The pack followed behind, all standing at attention.

Unlike other days when I had seen the pack preparing for a fight, only about half of them had that Christmas-morning glow they usually wore. The other half seemed as anxious as I was, and I felt relieved that at least some of them were taking this seriously.

I wanted to scream, wanted to holler and smack sense into them! I, of course, wanted nothing more than for the lost wolves to return but if vampires have them… it's already too late, right? And losing more of them wasn't going to fix anything… right?

I felt as if everyone around me had gone crazy, Emily seemed to read my mind, joining Edward in a meaningful glance at me. Lives would be lost. Would it be my Quil, so willing to fight by Jake's side.

"Quil, please," I begged, tugging his hand attempting to pull him to the door. He stood locked in place, his lips drawn in a hard line.

"Why is this happening," Phil asked from the door. He was standing next to Collin, who had Helen plastered so solidly to his side it looked as if they would need the "Jaws of Life" to extricate her. I didn't care why. I didn't care if it was revenge or a ploy, I just wanted to run. I wanted to pack up my things and take him away. I couldn't think about anyone else- my mother, Lana, Emily or the pack- selfishness was my new name and I wasn't ashamed!


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Quil- I Worship You

* * *

"They want to claim Alice… and/or rid of us all together. We are a very large coven, ten if you include Jake, which we do, making us double the Volturi family without their guard. We also have very close relationships with other covens. Tanya's family is an extension of our own, and we have only gotten closer since Nahuel became her mate—he's very close to Nessie, as is Carmen who is like an aunt to her. This is of course, on top of our relationship with your pack. It makes us the biggest threat they've ever had to face." This was the most I had ever heard Jasper speak, and I realized for the first time he a bit of a southern twang, making me momentarily curious of his age and origins.

"Bella's talent is extremely coveted by Aro but things are different now. I think they would rather see us all destroyed, pack included, to avoid any situation where the vampire community sees their misuse of power," Edward continued the line of thought.

"And they want to go all Dr. Frankenstein on Nessie. They want to figure out her abilities and her limits, to see if she or other half-breeds could be of use to them. If they can be controlled, trained, bred. They tried to take Nahuel last year, or they tried to lure him to join," Jake added.

"Yeah, but why get all snatchy with the wolves? Why didn't they just kill them or leave them?" Claire asked shocking the hell out of me. I was secretly wondering the same thing but didn't have the nerve to ask.

"They know by now the bonds of the pack, they must think it will be enough provocation for us to strike back," Jasper answered from Alice's side.

"We _are_ going to start a war!" Rosalie screamed and Emmett gazed at her with such love and so much lust I had to look away, it felt almost indecent.

"Rose, if we eliminate part of their guard the rest will come and they will have probable cause," Carlisle reasoned.

"Yes, you're right Carlisle, they will come, but even if we don't fight them now, they will find a way to pick us off one-by-one. They've been planning this for a while and they have found a way around my ability," Alice piped in, she was so tiny I almost forgot she was there, half hidden behind Jasper.

"Publicity! We need to call attention to this, we can call a summit," Esme suggested, she was not a fighter, we knew this from the lesson Jasper gave us in the forest years before.

"Yes, we can contact Tanya and her coven, start a chain calling everyone we know. After the last incident people won't have easily forgotten the Volturi's _interest_ in us," Edward elaborated. Claire nodded and shot him a look of appreciation. He smiled in response and my stomach burned with jealousy.

"By the time we have this blood-sucker soiree the rest of our pack might be dead, picked off by the Gianna chick," Embry spoke up for the first time. He sat on the floor, staring at the ceiling above him.

"I suggest you run and hide then," Jasper drawled.

"We don't run from a fight," Jordan joined the conversation. Jordan was not much for talking, he lived most of his life in his head and on paper, he was a writer. When he did weigh in on the issues everyone, including Sam listened.

Other than Michael (and occasionally Solace, a good partner for anyone in the mood for brooding) Jordan remained generally reclusive, which gave the pack a unique perspective on him that no one else shared. Of the six newest pack members, Jordan was the least fully integrated, his connection to Michael (his younger brother and best friend) was all that kept him in La Push, something we saw frequently in his thoughts. I was somewhat surprised he was still here, his last thoughts in the forest (before Anna was found) were certain of Michael's death. I assumed he would leave us soon. Jordan, as if coming out of a haze, stepped forward walking past Jasper who coiled his body reflexively around Alice.

"We are a family, not just by ancient or recent blood ties. We are family by bond, by love, by our collective mind and souls. We do not abandon the bodies of fallen brothers," Jordan continued.

I was not surprised by his eloquence, his thoughts followed a similar flowery prose (in fact if it were not for him, I would not even know the word prose) however, Jasper appraised the new addition to the conversation with slightly widened eyes. The newest pack members were not familiar to the Cullen family, they became necessary and phased for the first time during the _Great Renesme War_ , but the Cullen's left soon after and did not have time become acquainted with them.

"We also have a duty to Jake's imprinted," Sam added, looking shocked and pleased at Jordan's response.

And that was it, we were going to war. My input was not needed. Jared, holding Kim in the corner turned to me in disbelief. Paul who was wrapped solidly around Rachel did not look ready for battle, because he knew, we all knew, seeing our imprinted again was not promised.

"Everyone calm down, just stay here, I'm seeing something but it's being blocked, I need some fresh air. Bella, Jasper please come with me," Alice said holding her hand out to Bella. They glided out the room, Edward watching after them.

The room was filled to the brim but I pulled my claire to the most hidden corner and kissed Claire and then kissed her again. At best I had one day more with her but probably just hours before we set out. Her lips were soft and cool, and her cheek was like silk as I traced them with my thumb. Hot tears fell down her eyes and onto my finger.

I didn't care who saw us or what they thought, I slid my tongue in her mouth, and she met me halfway. She grabbed a handful of my hair roughly, adjusting her head to allow me full access to her mouth. I rubbed her back with one hand, holding her solidly against me with my other hand. After about five minutes Sam interrupted.

"Quil, take Claire… be back here in the morning, okay?" He said with a knowing look in his eyes, eyes that said _'enjoy yourselves'_. I raised my eyebrow at him and he winked shooing us to the door with his hands. "That goes for all of you, anyone who wishes to stay and plan can, otherwise go home and rest, come back in the morning."

I was halfway out the door when he called us back.

"No, wait, wait, come back," I thought he was going to change his mind about Claire and me, but he amended, "this fight is different from any others we've had before… it's probably the most dangerous we've ever had to face. I'm not ordering any of you to return. I want you to choose to return. You are all free to stay here. In fact, I hope that some of you do. If—if we don't come back from this I need to know that there are wolves protecting La Push, protecting our wives and children."

I looked around at my brothers, whose eyes all searched the crowd. I could see Jared's hesitation, he had told me just a week before that he was going to stop phasing soon; Kim was starting to far surpass him and he wanted to age with her. I stepped out into the night, sweeping Claire into my arms and heading towards my house.

I don't know if Claire saw Sam's gesture, if she knew that Sam had freed me from my command, but she reacted to me as if there were no boundaries. She planted kisses on every part of me she could reach, while her hand drew circles on the bare skin of my chest. She murmured ' _I love yous'_ and knee weakening ' _I want yous'._

We were at my door and up the stairs in seconds, Embry was not home yet and I didn't have time to wonder if he stayed. I didn't think about anything but being with her, being as close to her as I could be.

As I set her down and she trailed kisses on my chest down my chest. She looked up into my eyes, almost pleadingly before she whispered, "I love you, Quil Ateara."

I wanted to respond, but the words wouldn't come. Without thought, without premeditation I bent down kissing her, my long arms trailing down her side till I reached the hem of her sage green sundress. I traced my middle finger on the soft smooth plains of her upper thigh, before pulling the garment off of her in one quick movement.

She was magnificent.

I don't think words could describe the full magnitude of her splendor, of her stunning beauty. She wore simple matching lavender underwear that had a cluster of tiny ribbon flowers between her breast and at the center of her panties right below her belly button. Her deeply tanned skin contrasted so beautifully with the soft purple that it reminded me of art— of a masterpiece—of the most beautiful lost painting from a famous Italian artist. I felt a shiver throughout my body as I placed my large hand against the indent of her narrow waist, my thumb tracing her lowest rib.

She pulled me towards the bed eyeing me curiously and I realized I had not spoken to her (or at all) for at least an hour. I wanted to tell her that I loved her, but love just didn't cover it now, it was not enough, it was blasphemous and I searched my brain for something more appropriate.

"I worship you, Claire."

She giggled as we settled on the bed, her hands trying to untie the thick knots on the black sweatpants I wore. She bit her bottom lip in frustration and when she finally released them, she responded, "I know."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Quil- Masterpiece

* * *

"I worship you, Claire."

She giggled as we settled on the bed, her hands trying to untie the thick knots on the black sweatpants I wore. She bit her bottom lip in frustration and when she finally released them, she responded, "I know."

She positioned herself on top of me and I was dazzled; under her, looking up, she was truly the center of the world, all I could see. Her beautiful long fragrant hair tickled my chest as she reached down to grab my hand, which she wrapped behind her back settling it on the clasp of her bra.

I shuddered back to life and clumsily unhooked her as I kissed the tops of her soft small chest. They were beautiful and perfectly round, and as the bra slid down and off of her they spilled out. Like perfect mound that pointed at the center, which was a gorgeous shade of brown. I placed my face between her bare breast inhaling her intoxicating scent and exhaling loudly.

My strong breath on her sensitive bare skin tickled and she wriggled, creating a quick erratic friction that woke up the bottom half of my body. I was hard within seconds and the quick rush of blood was shocking and slightly painful. She remedied that with more deliberate movements against me. I took her small hard nipple in my mouth, using one hand to gently make circles on the other, while my second hand grasped her ass firmly, guiding her rocking movements.

She moaned when my hot tongue touched her skin, but did not stop moving and the shutter she experienced from my soft teasing created a shocking affect on her movement.

Our connection seemed to be deeper than I imagined, I knew her pain was my pain, but I had no idea that my pleasure could multiply with hers. I quickly switched positions, causing Claire to gasp as I landed on top of her.

I switched my mouth to her other breast, my hand trailing down her silky flat stomach to the rim on her underwear. I could feel the bundle of ribbon flowers as I tenderly slipped my hand under the band.

She gasped but slowly spread her legs at the knee staring in my eyes as I traced my fingers up and down her folds, resting them softly on her button of nerves. She pushed against me whimpering as I rubbed counter-clockwise in circles. She arched and flexed and moaned, and with every moan I shuddered reacting to her pleasure.

I was desperate to give her as much bliss as I could before the painful part came. In fact, if I could just gratify her all night I would be satisfied. I searched my brain momentarily for the pack memories I usually tried to tune out—searched for the different ways my brothers contented their partners. I changed my position, kissing down her body, over the top of her underwear, where I kissed her center over her underwear, and down to her inner thighs.

I lightly nibbled on the inside of her thigh darting my tongue under the lavender cotton. The elastic of her underwear hindered my movements and I hooked my thumbs at the sides sliding them down, with a grunt she lifted her butt off the bed to help me release her.

I threw them behind me and I turned to find her knees tightly closed, blocking me from returning to my coveted position. She sat up looking down at me uncertain and I sat back, trying to cool myself down. I didn't do anything she felt uncomfortable with.

I took deep breaths, my back to her and within seconds her lips were at my ear. I could feel her soft breast, complete with her hard nipples as they grazed my back. My calming mantra was useless and I dug my nails into my thighs trying to forcefully gain control.

"Did I do something wrong?" She whispered in my ear, obviously hurt. The tone of her voice stabbed me in my gut.

I spun around, quickly, "No! No," I insisted. "I don't want to do anything you don't want me to do… but it's hard being in control this close to you."

"I'm sorry, I just, I got nervous. The girls didn't really tell me about this," she blushed.

I pondered what the girls had told her about sex but decided it didn't matter, "Then let's slow down."

"No, no please," she whispered kissing the corner of my lips lightly before lying back and spreading her legs invitingly.

Her smell was more potent there and I lapped it up, darting my tongue at her entrance. I had never been in a position this personal with anyone before. She was spread out for me, completely bare, exposed and trusting. I felt a surge of pride and indescribable reverence.

I continued to savor her, my rarest treasure, and her back arched as she made a sound like a sob, clawing at the sheets around her till I heard them rip. As I manically tasted her, trying to absorb every ounce of her essence, I placed one finger inside of her center, where she felt as warm as if not warmer than me. I marveled at temperature momentarily, not having felt anything warm since becoming a wolf.

She smiled down at me, I could see her clearly from where my head rested between her legs, and my finger and tongue finally found a rhythm. Within minutes she was rocking against me accenting the motions, gasping and twitching as my tongue continued to work on her.

"Ahh-hhhh," she stammered and clawed, her back completely arched off the bed. I couldn't take it anymore, I pulled myself up and positioning myself on top of her. When I looked into her eyes for reassurance, she nodded to me and I continued, thrusting myself into complete bliss. It felt like submerging in a warm bath, I had never felt anything better in my life.

She gasped and I stopped myself mid-thrust. She looked shocked, but grabbed my face and with her eyes urged me to continue. I tried to stay slow, one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, but her tightness and the moisture from her arousal created a dizzying combination. I quickened my pace, looking to her face to ensure she was not in pain.

With one hand on her hip and the other on the bed I tried to envelop my member as deeply as I could. With every movement forward she inhaled quickly.

She brought her hand down, using her middle finger to slowly rub at her clit as I thrust harder. She gasped with the new force and bit her lip seductively. She was moaning from the combination of my thrust and her own hand and I could feel the change in wetness, allowing me to thrust more smoothly. After a while she shuttered, tightening around me, but I continued.

The rhythm changed continually with our positions. Her small body was having difficulty accommodating me, but she never let me stop. Grunts and moans escaped my lips without my permission, and she joined me. I felt her orgasm two more times, her eyes widening each time.

My entire body was in auto-drive and as the first signs of morning past my window her nails dug into my back, and she tightened around me stronger and longer than before. "Quil," was the only sound she made as she went limp in my arms and I followed a few seconds behind.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Claire-A Goddess in His Eyes

* * *

As he paused at my entrance, I hyperventilated a little and tried to remember my 'training'. Emily had said something about breathing exercises. _But what kind of breathing exercises? Did she teach me?_ I didn't remember.

All I could see was Quil. His body was extraordinary, cut, defined, and smooth; I could literally stare at it for days. He surpassed any ideals of form, his form was the essence of masculine strength. He was focusing on my face now, his eyes asking permission to enter. I panicked again.

The only breathing exercises I was familiar with were from movies, when pregnant women brought their husbands to pregnant lady classes, and they had montages of the stereotypical 'he-he-ho-ho' breathing. _Was that what she was talking about?_

Well, I considered it and decided that couldn't hurt; the concept was about the same, something huge coming out, something rather large coming in. I inhaled and nodded at him, trying to relax my body as I attempted to quietly mimic pregnant lady breathing.

"He-he-ho—O!" The pain was sharp at first as if I were being split completely in two. I must have been showing the pain on my face because I saw it mirrored in Quil's expression. I tried to relax again and I grabbed his face giving him a look of encouragement. He was beautiful, and perfect and when I examined him again I forgot the pain momentarily.

I laid back completely on the bed, breathing deeply as he started to move, very, very slowly.

Back… Forth… Back… Forth…

It took a bit for the pain to become manageable, and when it did I realized how warm he was. It was not unpleasant, but as he created a faster rhythm that followed my heart, I felt as if I were in a sauna, surrounded by his heat.

I was mesmerized by his chest above me, all coppery and broad. Small beads of sweat formed along his collarbone and fell in between the peaks of his pecks. As he picked up the pace, two thrust for every heartbeat I felt the pleasure, as if with every thrust he was reaching a part of my body that had been dormant until now. It was like a door that dammed an ocean of pleasure, and with every second he was getting closer to the knob.

I felt feverish as I pulled him closer for a kiss. His tongue brushed my bottom lip and for a second I wanted to explain to him the immense passion and joy he was giving me, and that he had given me my entire life, but I got distracted.

He was on top and the pressure of him again my hips was becoming uncomfortable and I appraised them. I could almost feel the soreness begin and I used all my force to push his body to the side, not breaking our connection, as I threw my leg over him.

The change in position was magical, and he grunted at the exact moment that I shivered and spasmed in orgasm. It was like nothing I had ever felt with but I had no time to analyze it as he continued to pull farther and farther forward. We were facing each other on our sides and I drew circles on his chest with my nail. The pain had all but gone now and I didn't want to stop. I couldn't stop, he couldn't stop, and I told him so.

"Don't stop," the words came out much more demanding and breathless than I wanted them to and I looked at his face trying to apologize but saw a large dimpled grin spread across it. He was enjoying this.

Yes, of course he was enjoying the act of sex, but he was enjoying the way my body contracted, rocked, and arched, and the way I was whimpering; my pleasure was his and I finally understood what Rachel had told me. "If you're enjoying yourself, so will he." All the fear and discomfort blew away. I pushed forward as he did, lightly circle his tiny nipple with my tongue. He moaned and I felt myself get wetter knowing my power over him.

I pushed him down, taking my rightful place as wolf-girl—on top! His dazzling smile light up the dark room and I arched my back, finding my own movement, to the music in my head.

He looked at me again with that look—I couldn't explain it, he had only looked at me like that once before, as he undressed me. It sent waves of electricity throughout my body, this look. It was as if, as if he had never seen me before… as if he had never seen anything before. He looked at me as if I was the most beautiful thing in the world, which I realized then was probably true for him.

I never truly understood imprinting. I thought of it as love at first sight, but it was so much more than that. I knew then, as I bucked my hips back and forth, rubbing against his hot skin, that imprinting made me his life. I was much more like a Goddess in his eyes than simple little Claire. I felt a flood of confidence and immense pleasure. As I shook, I dug my fingers in his skin, my body clenching before I released and collapsed.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Claire- Embry's Call

* * *

I woke up with a start, wrapped in Quil's warm arms as a voice rang through the door.

"Quil, man, wake up! Get out here!" I never heard Embry so frazzled and I hopped out of Quil's bed quickly, pulling on a pair of cut-off sweats on the floor, and drawing the string as tightly as possible which still left them hanging low on my hips. They looked more like capris than shorts on me and I sort of like the style, if they were a bit smaller I could be starting a trend, _hobo-girl chic_.

As I started looking for a shirt, Quil shuffled around and threw me something from his top drawer. I recognized it immediately as my own, although it was very, very old. It was a shirt from the summer camp I attended in the fourth grade. The summer camp that I hated and after two tear stained letters Quil came and busted me out of— _without_ my parent's permission. I remember the thrill of the late night escape; my nine year old mind running wild with images of us as international spies or kick ass cat-burglars.

I smiled despite myself and pulled on the faded red and white shirt, it was very, very tight and extremely short, which on one hand was a blessing as I was not wearing a bra so it held me securely in place, however with the low hanging sweats it left a good amount of my stomach exposed. Quil smiled at my bare mid-section as he threw the door open to face Embry.

Embry crashed in without thinking. When he caught sight of me his eyes widened and he smiled goofily, his eyes lingering on my mid-section. I giggled at his inappropriateness in a time of crisis and Quil punched him hard in his arm. He came back to his senses and turned away from me to face Quil.

"Bella and Alice, they brought them back. They found them and they brought them back, they're alive," he said breathlessly. My stomach dropped, I felt dizzy with excitement and searched for my flip-flops as Quil ran out the door. I ran after him, jumping on his back as he ran towards Sue's.

The exhilaration was like electricity throughout the house and I hopped off of Quil not even thinking about my attire. Solace who sat close to Phil smirked so widely that I remembered I was bare from the top of my ribs to the apex of my hips. I scowled at him, holding my head up high as I headed towards the large gathering in the kitchen. Kim who was glued to Jared, raised an eyebrow at me as I walked in and I winked at her. I felt immensely more confident now as I walked through the house in a mitch-matched outfit, I would never have dreamed of wearing this before last night.

Then I saw them, Natalia was curled up in Seth's lap and mumbling rapidly in Spanish. Seth had studied Spanish for almost three years solid since meeting Natalia and he nodded solemnly in understanding, not taking his eyes off of her once.

Michael injured but healing, was flanked by Jordan and Anna who sat crying silently next to him.

In the farthest corner Brady was engaged in a serious man-hug with Collin and I was abruptly hit with overwhelming emotion. I put my arms around the both of them sobbing quietly. They broke apart momentarily adding me to the circle, and then I realized something I should have noticed when I came in. The Cullens and Renesme were not here.

"Wait," I said breaking off. "Where are Renesme and the Cullens?" Collin looked weary as he glanced down at me, and Brady ran a hand through his hair.

"They're preparing for the fight," Krys answered me, obvious excitement in his eyes.

"What fight?" I asked turning to find Quil, who was watching me from across the room.

"We took out four of their guard, their coming for us," Brady's voice was shaky.

"No, no, _you_ didn't take out _anyone_. The Cullens did!" I was close to screaming when Quil placed a heavy arm around my shoulder, grounding me. A sweet smell like flowers and baked good hit my nose, and I saw the Cullens filling in, Edward at the head, holding his wife's hand. When his eyes reached mine his face changed, almost apologetic. I noticed now that they were not alone; they were followed by six new vampires and a handsome tanned man that was not vampire, but definitely not human.

Sam came forward shaking their hands and looking weary, "any new information?"

"Yes, Alice sees them coming now. They are not taking their time to plan this time. They do not want to give us time to assemble an army again," Carlisle said bleakly.

"We have contacted everyone. Tia and Benjamin are already on their way, Stefan and Vladimir will arrive within the day. Siobhan's coven has been informed, they have been waiting for this for quite some time," Edward continued.

"How long before they arrive?" Quil asked still holding me.

"Alice doesn't see the Volturi arriving here. They are going to our home in Canada. We will leave tonight," Edward answered.

"What about the summit and all of that?" I asked him looking deep in his topaz eyes.

"It's too late. While Alice and Bella were retrieving the wolves they successfully took out four of the Volturi's guards, two of which were gifted. Vampires with gifts are highly prized by Aro, he won't let this pass," Edward answered. Bella smirked as if she was proud of herself and I felt nauseous.

"Why didn't they kill us when they had the chance, Edward?" Seth asked from his chair still holding on to Natalia. There was a sort of odd affection in the way they interacted, the rest of the pack were all civil to the Cullens (especially Renesme) but Edward and Seth were way past civility, they were friends.

"I think Aro intended to abduct you and see if you could be trained as guards," Edward answered, walking to Seth's side and patting him wholeheartedly on the arm. "If that could have been managed they would have collected you all before the battle, if not, they would have used Gianna to eliminate you."

Natalia stared up at Edward uncomfortably. Edward bowed his head to her and whispered something in Spanish, she gasped and Seth chuckled.

"Don't freak out my fiancée, Edward she's new to this."

"Fiancee?!"Sue gasped and Kim hollered, "About damn time, Clearwater," from the kitchen.

I was super happy for them, but also a little jealous, yesterday night before all of this madness this was the exact announcement we were going to make, we going to tell the pack we were planning to get married. Now… now I didn't even know if he was going to live past tomorrow.

"So now what? This Gianna chick is gone, so it's a fair fight right? Why is everyone worried?" Solace asked from the door. Leah stood next to him, her eyes glued to the floor and I sensed intimacy in their postures that I never noticed before.

"It's never a fair fight with the Volturi. They still have Renesme and their guard has been upped substantially since their last encounter with us. We have contacted everyone we could but this time we don't have the pretense of bearing witness, this time is a _fight_. We are attempting to overthrow a monarchy, they aren't going to take that lightly—we vampires value our lives," a tall man with a ponytail spoke from beside his mate.

"Garret's right, less people are going to be willing to come forward now. We aren't fighting an accusation against us, we are fighting the establishment," his mate, a small beautiful vampiress interjected.

"I think the group that took Nessie might not be far waiting for orders. They wouldn't bring her to the battle. We followed their scents to the ocean, but they could have doubled back farther along the coast. We should split up, follow the trail again and if we can't find her head north in time for the Volturi's arrival" Jasper said, still wrapped around Alice.

"We'll go back first. Someone has to be there to meet the Dracula twins anyways," the big-teddy bear of a vampire Emmett said, grabbing his life-size Barbie girlfriend and heading to the door.

"Emmett, we shouldn't split into such small groups. Take Garret, Kate, Jake and Huilen with you," Jasper ordered, no one questioned him; he had a stance, a presence that was awe-inspiring and also terrifying. He was obviously in charge when it came to battle, I watched as the eyes of the stunning tanned man follow the Huilen as she left. He seemed torn, as he held onto a statuesque strawberry blonde. Before last night the sight of these vampire women would have tortured me for weeks, their perfection was disheartening, but I hardly noticed it now.

The blond Tanya, spoke, "Huilen will be safe with Kate and Emmett, don't worry lover," she cooed in his ear. I noticed then that Edward and his wife Bella were whispering and shooting glances in my direction. Quil noticed too rushed to my side.

"I don't like the way they are looking at her," Quil hissed under his breath, as Edward and Bella, seemingly aware of Quil's anger stopped abruptly.

"Calm down, Quil. Edward is just worried about Claire," Bella assured him.

"Why is he worried?" Quil demanded.

"Did the mini-vamp see my future doom?" I asked casually, Edward chuckled.

"No, you just remind us a bit of our daughter. We feel very… protective of you," Edward explained. Quil's stance relaxed noticeably and the guilt started to suffocate me.

I was trying to keep Quil from this battle, the battle for Renesme, a girl I had known my entire life. She had a family, friends and an imprint just like me… and if this had happened to me, if our places were switched, I would hope she'd allow Jake to fight for me. I felt tears sting at the corner of my eyes and I put my head down in shame.

"I'm really sorry about Nessie," were the only words that I trusted myself with then. A hard cold hand touched my shoulder and Bella's kind face stared down at me.

"I know _exactly_ how you feel, it's terrifying," she whispered, her sweet breath washing over me.

"Which… is why we think you should stay in La Push with Anna, Seth and Michael. They've been hurt, they're not fit to fight and someone needs to keep an eye out here just in case," Edward said looking meaningfully at Sam who watched us from across the room. Sam nodded and turned back to Emily.

"I'm going," Anna said standing at the table.

"So am I," Michael said making the same gesture.

"Me too," Seth said, standing even as Natalia tried to force him back down— and the rest of the pack considered it their moment to declare.

"I'm in," said Jordan, putting his arm around his brother.

"It's my job," Phil said gravely.

"I wouldn't miss it," said Krys just as Solace said, "we all gotta die someday," I shuddered.

Collin and Brady, huddled in the corner in discussion, before they turned to the group and together simply said, "We're in."

Leah came into the room and much to the surprise of everyone around said, "If Jake and Seth fight, I fight." Quil gasped and started to step forward, but I grabbed onto him tightly, my eyes pleading with Edward for help.

"You know I'm going," Embry called, winking at Leah as he joined her in the middle of the dining room. Quil had stopped and I used the opportunity to force him to look at me. I kissed him with all the passion I could muster and begged him, "Quil, please, they said you could stay." Embry looked back at him and I saw the pain in Quil's eyes. I was being selfish, but I could not stand by and let him go without a fight.

The room got even tenser, there were three other whispered arguments across the room and just three wolves left to declare. I watched as Kim silently fought with Jared, her eyes were a mix of pain and fury before she blurted out, "I'm pregnant, so _I_ win! You're staying!" Jared's eyes fell on Sam and he nodded, giving Jared a weak smile. Jared's shoulders slumped in defeated and he left the room.

Rachel and Paul's discussion was much calmer, he kept pointing in the direction of the crowd, looking at Anna and murmuring. Rachel was crying as she finally nodded and he spoke, "I'm in," he sounded defeated.

Only Quil was left.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Quil- Preteen Vampire

* * *

"Please Quil, don't go!" I hated to see her beg, it almost completely killed my resolve. She had to understand though, I couldn't just let my family go and fight without me, the cowardice, the betrayal… I couldn't live with myself after that.

Leah stepped forward and I thought she was going to ask a question, even say her goodbyes, but when she stated her place in the battle I knew even more solidly that I had to go, out of loyalty to Jake if nothing else. Jake was my lifelong best friend and I also knew, without a doubt, that if it were Claire he would be there fighting with me.

Embry stepped forward and I knew his answer before he spoke.

I was next.

This was my duty, this was what I was born for, my reason for living… other than Claire.

"Quil, please, they said you could stay," her hand grasped me and a warm tingling filled my body. Embry looked at me, waiting for me to join him, my heart felt as if it was going to explode.

I was being pulled and pushed in every direction. I cared for Renesme, genuinely; she was a _good_ person, a good, sweet, person who loved Jacob so much. After years of seeing Jacob beat up over Bella, Renesme was like a gift to all of us who loved Jacob.

Embry has been my brother, my closest friend for years, how could I let him face danger without me.

But Claire. Claire was my world, if I left her, and did not come back, who would protect her. I was born to protect her.

The thoughts in my head ran wild, as I saw Jared back out. No one was upset; I could see by the solemn looks around us that no one questioned his responsibility to his wife and family. We all knew he was trying to stop phasing to age naturally with Kim. I didn't have this excuse… but the blood-suckers, they told me to stay. What did that mean? Were they so sure we'd win that they knew they didn't need me? And if that were true, then why even worry about me going?

Paul separated from Rachel to join the fight and I was alone, I was the only wolf who had not stated his position. I needed time to think, I needed air. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye and back to Embry. If I died, Jared would take care of her, he wouldn't let anything happen to her, I knew this. It hurt to do it but I stepped forward slowly and she rushed past me.

I had no idea what she would do, and I could see she was making it up as she went along. She jumped on a piece of furniture and I couldn't help but appreciate her bare midriff. Her hip bones were peaking sexily from the rim of the sweat pants and I was literally weak at the thought of not being able to touch her again. She screamed so loud my sensitive ears rang, "We're getting married, so he can't go!"

It was inappropriate and probably unexpected, but I laughed. I laughed and laughed, until my side hurt and she stared down at me in disbelief. For a second she reminded me of a child throwing a tantrum, her hand rested on her hip.

"I'll be there. For Jake… and for Nessie," I said pulling her down from the chair and kissing her forehead.

This was it, we were going to war. The pack had only six hours before we had to leave, Jasper filled us in on the guard, describing the key players and their abilities. Claire sat by my side for the first hour, but when the fear got too much for her she sat with Natalia, Emily, Rachel, and Helen who made a small circle of 'potential widows'.

When Jasper was finished with the stats I felt surprisingly better. Bella and Alice had taken care of Gianna and Alec, two of our biggest threats. The majority of the other gifted vamps were easily blocked by Bella's shield, which had advanced in many ways since she had become a newborn. Her shield could now cover a huge distance and when she concentrated fully she could use it as a reflector, pushing skills and abilities back at their weilder, although her aim was not perfected yet.

The Volturi's numbers had increased since we last faced each other, making the threat twenty one all together. We far outnumbered them, especially since Jasper had managed to call in three new more skilled fighters, Charlotte, Peter and Maria. The Volturi, however, were also skilled fighters, skilled in ways we'd never seen, so we couldn't let our guard down.

Throughout the day Carlisle received calls from Rosalie, announcing the arrivals of different covens or pairs. Stefan and Demetri were first, much to the delight of Embry, who found them entirely more amusing than he should have. Siobhan, Liam, Maggie and her mate Aiden were next.

Charlotte and Peter, complete with fierce ruby eyes met us in La Push, the hairs on my neck stood menacingly, the tension however (no doubt with the help of Jasper) faded quickly.

Benjamin, Tia and a couple they had met along the way, Randall and Makenna, added to our numbers, near the time we needed to leave. The spirits were high as we started to tally fighters in our favor, but as we made our rounds saying our goodbyes the collective spirit began to fade.

I kissed Claire passionate, gently, lovingly, in any way that I could for close to an hour before I was dragged away by Embry, watching as tears the size of pennies dropped down her face. I didn't turn away, I let Embry guide me, walking backward and trying to watch her for every millisecond I could, before we entered the forest and I phased.

The run to Canada was quiet, I followed the scents of Peter and his mate, committing them to memory for the night's battle. Anna ran to my left at the back of the crowd, her thoughts flashed quickly and I saw momentarily a glimpse of Claire, announcing our engagement with a feeling of… jealousy maybe? Her and Michael were married by tribal law so it couldn't be that.

It was unlike her. I wasn't sure what the flavor of this feeling was, because I had never felt it from Anna before. I played it back in my head and Anna turned her big sandy brown spotted head away from me.

She didn't think about it again, but I saw the image of Claire again from Solace, with feelings I was all too familiar with. I let out a deep growl and Solace barked an apology for his lustful thoughts about my Claire.

I caught Jake's scent, but it was out of place. Jake had left first and there were still a hundred odd miles before we arrived at the Cullen's mansion.

I froze and turned my face towards the smell, it was accompanied by five unfamiliar vampire scents. Anna the half blood hound was already on the trail and I raced after her. I saw Jacob in the clearing ahead, cradling a figure tightly to his body. It looked like Bella and I pushed myself harder trying to get a better view.

I saw from Michaels mind behind me that a female vampire was lunging at my left, I threw my body low to the ground, and I felt a handful of fur being ripped off of my back as the vampire flew past me. Krys and Paul had her down and dismembered before I could stand up.

I concentrated hard on the thoughts of the pack, analyzing the threat. I could see from Embry's mind Nessie's limp form in Jake's arms. He wasn't phasing, he wasn't even attempting to look at the threat around him, he stared at her face and I could see a hooded figure slink over. Embry and I rocketed forward, colliding with each other before we tackled the girl. Embry writhed and growled in pain and I realized our opponent, tiny and deadly… none other than Jane.

Our minds were unshielded, where was Bella? I searched for her with my own eyes and then through those of the pack. She was heading towards Jacob and I could see she had lost all will to fight at the sight of Nessie, but without her we would die.

"Bella! The shield!" I screamed in my head but she couldn't hear. They must be coming, we had no time to make battle strategies, we had no time to make formations, and we were going to die without her help.

Edward rushed to Bella's side and I launched myself at Jane. It felt wrong pinning the pint sized girl to the ground. Even as I felt fire, white hot fire rush through my veins, I didn't like to hit girls.

The pain stopped almost immediately and the angelic smile turned into a growl. There was a commotion behind me, gasping and sobbing but I concentrated on the task at hand.

Jane successfully scrambled from beneath me as Embry recovered, standing at my side. Jane's eyes darted back and forth in fear. She suddenly ran backwards, her eyes still focused on us. We moved to follow but until she landed squarely in the arms of Stefan and Vladimir. They were smiling genuinely for the first time since I'd met them, as they each grabbed a side and ripped the pre-teen vampire into two.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Claire- Let's Get Our Drink On!

* * *

I watched Quil being dragged away by Embry and my knees got weak, I felt as if I were going to faint or possibly puke. Kim's strong hands wrapped around my waist, planting a warm kiss on my cheek and pulling me back towards the house.

I struggled weakly with her trying to watch the empty road, just in case he decided to return. She huffed and let go, calling out to Jared.

"JARED! Get this girl in the house before she passes out or something, will ya?"

Large warm hands, just like Quil's pulled me up and I snuggled into his chest closing my eyes. It felt so familiar, so good, but the smell was wrong, it was too lemony, too piney and I sobbed so hard my body jerked in his arms.

"Let's take her home, babe," Kim whispered to Jared and I wanted to protest, wanted to fight but I was numb.

Kim sat in the back of Quil's truck and pulled me in beside her. I placed my head into her lap where silent tears streamed down my face.

"Shhh. It'll be okay," she said as she stroked my hair.

"And if it's not? And if Quil _dies_ , then what will happen to me?" I demanded, sitting up. Saying the word die and Quil in the same sentence was almost unbearable.

"We would take care of you kiddo, promise," Jared called back from the front of the cabin. They didn't understand, they had no idea… there would be nothing left of me to take care of, because I wouldn't exist. I couldn't live without Quil.

"If he dies, I want to go with him," Kim examined me for a moment and then nodded as if she knew exactly what I meant.

"I'm going to stay with her tonight, Jared," Kim said calmly and I snuggled my face into her shoulder blade. She was not warm like Jared, but she was soft and it felt nice.

"Are you sure, honey?"

"Yeah, pick up the kids from Billy's let them eat all the junk in the fridge and then take them to Emily's. The rest of the girls are camping out there for the night, stay with them, okay?" He nodded as we drove into my driveway.

She helped me out of the car and Jared, opened the front door for us, kissing Kim so passionately I whimpered. Jared hugged me too. He kissed my forehead and whispered some reassurances before he left. My mother met us as we entered the living room and helped place me on the couch, where I curled into the fetal position.

"What happened? Where have you been?" My mom demanded. I had not been home for over twenty four hours, but I didn't feel the need to explain myself. Kim did.

"The boys, they had to go into battle," Kim said looking at her meaningfully.

"Battle?" my mom dropped all anger.

"Yeah."

"Is it serious?" My mom asked coming to sit next to me on the couch.

"Yeah. It's um, the Volturi again. The Great Renesme War part deux!" Kim answered playfully, but I could see the pain in her eyes.

"And Jared?"

"Stayed behind," Kim said looking down.

"And why couldn't Quil? How could he leave me like that?" I demanded.

"Because it's his duty, it's his life, honey," my mom said adding, "You should be proud."

Kim rolled her eyes, and forced me to look at her, "He's lived through two of these epic battles before, he had to leave you both times, and he's always come back for you."

"What?" I was seriously confused.

"Yea. First there was the Newborns-Wanna-Eat-Bella-skirmish, and then the Great Renesme War, those girls are serious bad luck," Kim said smiling. "You don't remember them, but I do. When they left for the first one I was terrified, I couldn't even breathe, I was hysterical and the way Quil looked at you when he had to leave, I was sure they were goners. But they came back."

"Oh God, he made us leave the state when they had that mutant baby war," my mom added nodding.

"Yeah, had you drive them down to California right?" Kim asked.

"Yup, and there wasn't even a fight," my mom rolled her eyes.

"But it's different this time!" I screamed, angry at their dismissive attitudes.

"Yes, it is. I know it is, but you have to know that Quil will do everything in his power to get back to you, you are the center of his world, shit, you are his world. So you can't go around talking about dying, cuz your life is his," Kim said looking at me seriously. I couldn't meet her eyes. She was right, I knew she was, but I still couldn't imagine being without him.

"This is the hardest part of loving a werewolf, the constant danger, not to you, but to them. You asked me how you officially become a wolf-girl, well, you gotta grow a pair!" I stared at her, my eyes wide with shock and she shrugged as if to say, that's life!

"Let's drink! That always helps pass the time," my mother said standing up and heading towards the kitchen.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Kim winked at me.

"I'm 17," I protested.

"Come on Princess Claire, lighten up, he'll be back in the morning," and she helped me stand, pulling me toward the kitchen.

"Your mom doesn't drink like this all the time does she?" she whispered suddenly looking serious. I shook my head and she smiled sweetly, "well, good. Let's get our drink on!"

Drinking with your mom is bizarre, and also hilarious. Kim, a fan of tequila, had a large variety of drinking games to keep us occupied and near three in the morning (after Kim passed out on my couch), I stumbled hazily to my room and stripped down, passed out.

~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~

A/N: Before you tell me Kim shouldn't be drinking because she is pregnant I should tell you to keep reading...


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Quil- The Fairest of Them All

* * *

Jane looking back at us in fear, ran directly into the arms of Stefan and Vladimir. They were smiling genuinely for the first time since I'd met them, as they each grabbed a side and ripped the pre-teen vampire into two.

Embry could not contain his glee at the sight of Stefan and Vladimir, who once they were finished making their sides of Jane into smaller pieces, threw her on the floor and appraised us quickly.

"Dogs," Stefan said courteously, nodding and Vladimir patted us on the shoulders in a friendly gesture as he walked past. Embry was ecstatic, his favorite vampires calling us dogs was no longer an insult, but some sort of comedic moment for him to add to his collection of memories of the Dracula duo.

I turned back to the clearing where a huge group of vampires and wolves were huddled together. I fought my way through the crowd trying to understand what had happened, and if more were coming. Jake was gone, as was Bella, Edward, Esme and Carlisle.

"What is going on," Alice asked Kate who was on Anna's left.

"We followed a scent from the coastline down here and found Demitri, we tried to follow him to Nessie. Emmet, Garret and I took care of Demitri and another guard. Jake and Rosalie found Nessie," Kate stopped talking then, as if she didn't want to finish.

Rosalie continued her face was scrunched unattractively as if she were crying, but her eyes were dry, "Renesme was being tested by Jane, I think they were testing how much pain she could take before her heart stopped. When we got there Jake phased and took care of a guard and I tried to stop Jane, I made her concentrate on me," she shuddered.

Bella came into the clearing rushing to her side.

"She's—she'll be fine. Renesme only went through mental torture, her body is alright. She just needs to rest. Esme is going to stay with her, she's never been much of a fighter," Bella explained. I could see relief flood over the faces of Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie, but Alice did not seem surprised. It was odd, to think of them as a family, but they were and Esme was their mother. They didn't want her anywhere near the fight.

"They'll be arriving from both the east and the west in less than ten minutes, there are twenty nine of them. That's more than we expected," Alice announced.

"We'll create a circle, try to evenly disperse," Jasper said, grabbing Alice's hand and heading towards the west, but she shook her head and pointed towards the east, and he followed as the group created a tight circle.

Jake, Edward and Carlisle returned then and Jake filed into place on Embry's right, I stood on Embry's left. It was difficult, being in wolf form and not being able to communicate with Jake, especially now because all of the wolves, particularly the younger ones were saying their goodbyes.

I could _hear_ Anna telling Michael and then Paul how much she loved them both, Michael whined and Paul grunted, although I could see his mind fill with images of his three most important girls, Rachel, his daughter Trisha and Anna.

Solace and Phil who stood next to each other rubbed their muzzles affectionately. The two of them were an interesting duo, Phil: philosophical, pacifist, and his best friend Solace: thrill seeker and womanizer, but it worked. They had a connection which, once all the macho attitude was pushed aside, was loving and caring.

Collin and Brady were huddled next to each other, and their minds filled with a torrent of 'remember that time whens'; drunken adventures, previous battles and long nights of Guitar Hero flashed in their heads.

I knew Embry wanted to say something, because I could hear the beginnings of it in his head, but he kept cutting himself off, he was debating it, before he finally said it.

 _If anything happens to you I'll make sure Claire has everything she ever wanted._

And that was truly all I wanted, Claire's eternal happiness.

 _Thanks man, but keep your hands off of her._ I only half joked.

 _Now, I can't promise that, she has grown into quite the lady._ I growled at him and he chuckled just as the smell of blood sucker filled the clearing.

A huge gust of wind and light rain that began so quickly it could not have been natural, washed over the clearing. Embry pushed my shoulder with his muzzle and then Jake's, who howled as the robed leeches came into view. There were sixteen in my sight and we counted the seconds as they got closer.

A massive bolt of lightning struck, hitting one of the robed figured at the front, it didn't kill him, but it set his clothes and body aflame, and the light rain was not enough to stop it. A girl, who was attached to his side frantically started to beat at the green flames, but it only set her own hands on fire. The rest of the twelve started to come forward and a tall man pulled off his robe, throwing it over the burning man before he leaped forward.

And then it was war.

I couldn't keep track of what was going on around me, a large blood sucker, bigger then Emmett launched himself at me and just missed my neck with his teeth. I whirled around, kicking him with my hind leg and taking a chunk out of his torso in one fast sweep.

The Dracula twins hopped past just as Jake and I were taking out the huge guard, pulling his arms off his disconnected torso. They flew past us completely giddy with delight and I heard them peel with laughter, it was chilling and beautiful. They seemed to have a target, they danced and weaved through people before reaching the burned man. His accomplice still held onto to him for dear life.

"So nice to see you, again Aro, Renata," Vladimir said his thickly accented voice filled with sarcasm. I heard two more loud cracks of lightening from behind me and the ground shuddered.

As Solace fought a lanky vampire to my left I turned to find a tall vampire, a beautiful, amazing, sensual, completely harmless female vampire beckoning me.

She didn't wear robes, instead she had on a tight soft looking violet dress which matched her remarkable eyes. She was not a vampire at all, but an innocent bystander, who I had to save, I stepped toward her just as Rosalie leaped over me, smashing the innocent vampire against a tree and ripping her head off in one movement.

"Now—who's the—fairest of them all—bitch?" Rosalie grunted at the body which continued to struggle with her.

"Still you baby, still you!" Emmett whooped from behind her, still engaged in combat with a massive black vampire.

My daze was lifted just in time to see a small figure diving towards me. She pinned me to the ground momentarily, before I regained my footing and clenched my teeth around her neck, using all my force to rip out a large chunk.

The sounds of battle around me started to fade and I mercilessly pulled apart my last opponent, throwing it in an already burning heap.

A/N: Okay, before anyone asks the violet eyed vampire was Heidi, who obviously has some dazzling power that Bella cannot shield, like Jasper. The guy hit by lightning (thrown by Benjamin) was Aro, who was killed by Vlad and Stefan.

Alice made Jasper go to the east because she knew Aro who had the stronger guard would be coming on the west and she did not want Jasper to fight with him. The last vampire Quil took out was one of the wives. I went back and forth on whether or not to name them. I wanted this to be Quil's POV and I knew he wouldn't know all of them by name.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Quil- Mega Imprint Spawn

* * *

I surveyed the crowd counting wolf heads, once, twice, three times to be sure. We were all accounted for.

Jordan was limping so badly Solace had to keep him upright, and there was a small circle of people reattaching pieces to one of the Denali clan but everything else seemed in order. Once Jordan assured everyone he was okay I saw Paul streak past me, his thoughts on Rachel and his family. There were no need for words it seemed and Collin soon followed his trail.

 _You're free to go Paul, Collin._ Sam's thoughts were sarcastic but not angry _._

I sauntered over to Sam's side, silently asking for permission and he pushed me toward home with his head. I took that as my okay and I ran forward, outstripping Collin and eventually meeting with Paul. When we got to the border Seth caught up, his mind filled with images of Natalia.

We were at Emily's house twenty minutes later, but Claire's scent was gone. Jared came to the door, rubbing my head and telling me what I wanted to know.

"She's at her mom's with Kim."

I headed back Northwest not stopping once even though my legs ached and I could feel sweat caking into my fur.

I was under her window in no time and I phased back. I didn't think about my nudity, my beaten body, or my stench. I scaled her tree and slipped into her window silently. I saw the pair of sweats she borrowed from me yesterday morning and I pulled them on unknotting the drawstring and covering myself.

She had fallen asleep sprawled awkwardly across the bed. She wore only a tank and underwear and I lifted her slightly, allowing myself room to lie next to her. It was 3:37am. She grumbled and turned in my arms facing me, her eyes were groggy before they widened with so much joy I thought my heart would burst.

"Quil," she whimpered kissing me soothingly. She pulled back to examine me and her eyes widened again in shock. "You're all bruised!"

I hadn't noticed till she said it, I hadn't felt anything but a need to see her and make sure she was okay. She lightly trailed her hands along the healing cuts and bruises on my chest and torso and her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm fine, Claire-bear, promise." I kissed her again, her burning lips and soft body was pressed against me and the relief and the joy and the overwhelming need for her took over. I pressed myself to her, spreading her legs and settling on top, using my elbows to support my substantial weight.

"You smell all woodsy and musky and I like it." She nestling her head in my neck and inhaled deeply. It tickled in the most sensual way and my hands trailed down, kneading her firm ass through the thin cotton material of her underwear. She chuckled and whispered, "never took you for an ass man, Quil."

"I'm an everything-on-Claire's-body man, actually," she laughed again.

"Everything? Even my sideway pinkie toes? My misshapen ears? How about my forehead, is that sexy?" I leaned down and kissed her forehead, then her beautifully perfect ears one by one and I travelled down her body to get to her toes but I was distracted halfway down at her center where her smell was intoxicating. She squirmed pushing her pelvis forward and I forgot all about pinkie toes, plunging my tongue under the soft cotton of her underwear, finally home.

xXx

"Quil, Quil, Quil! Wake up!"

"Hmm? Volturi? What?" I jumped out of bed naked and ready to phase at the drop of the dime.

"Calm down, everything's fine, you just have to get out of here before my mom wakes up," Claire said scanning my body and turning away quickly blushing.

She was even more beautiful in the morning; her eyes extra wide, her right cheek covered with little pillow marks, her hair untidily sticking up at all angles. I was exhausted, it was just past 9 am, and after last night's second round of strenuous activities we didn't get to sleep till well past 5.

"Ugh, don't make me phase and run all the way back to La Push, I'm exhausted. If she says anything, tell her she owes me a bed because I'm a defender of all people in the Olympic Peninsula and that she should be proud to have me under her roof," I cried. My limbs felt like mush.

Claire lay on her side facing me with a smirk and kissed me delicately with a sigh. I couldn't help running my hand from the top of her ribcage down the canyon of her waist and back up to the summit of her hip. Her skin was like warm silk under my fingers and I ran it back up again, watching as her pupils dilated, making them look black and hungry. Her heartbeat sped as I reached her impossibly indented waist, my hand so large that the thumb grazed her belly button.

 _Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum_. The beating of her heart was like music and I was the conductor, rubbing my thumb in circles around her belly button making it faster and stronger. I listened so intensely, _da-dum, da-dum_ , that I didn't hear the footsteps, didn't catch the breathing on the other side of the door.

"Kay guys, you had enough time for lovin! Now get showered, dressed and downstairs ASAP," Kim said in a very motherly way and I had visions of her three (soon to be four) children's terrifying future.

Kim was not to be messed with. I kissed Claire again and headed to the shower and to my delight she followed, hopping in before me. She was already shampooing her hair by the time I took a whiz and joined her.

I had to try hard not to concentrate on how the water trailed down her body and focused on getting clean. I scraped hard against my skin, turning almost red from the effort. It took two full body scrubs to remove the smell of blood, sweat and sex off of me. I thought at first she was trying to save time with our shared shower, but once she was soaped, shampoo, rinsed and repeated she turned back towards me pinning me to the back of the shower stall, lifting her leg to my hip and lightly grazing my nipple with her tongue.

We had to be quick and it killed me, even though I knew I had the rest of my life to be with her once I was in her it was so hard to stop. I entered her in a swift upward movement. She held onto my shoulders and bounced greedily. I rubbed her clit in soft, quick circles the way she liked. I didn't have to test my restraint though, because when the hot water ran out it was clear sign to stop.

"Okay, but we have to do it in there again, and start with the cold water," she smirked drying off and dashing back to her room naked. I pulled on my sweats and headed down stairs, sure that we would get distracted again if I followed her to her room while she was still undressed.

"Morning devirginator," Kim winked at me, her hand braced solidly on her forehead. Claire's mom entered a second later, winking at Kim and half-heartedly glaring at me.

"You feeling okay, Kim," I asked steering the conversations away from my newly launched sex life.

"She's hung over," Joanna said pouring two cups of coffee and handing one to me.

"What? Kim, you're pregnant!" I glared at her in disgust, she had always been so careful with her pregnancies. She quit smoking the day she found out and for months after the births of her two sons Ethan and Taylor and their little girl Amber.

"I'm not pregnant, Quil, sit down. I'm gunna teach you a little something about women. You see, you've been living in sweet little Claire's world, so you don't know, but women lie. Yes, sometimes we trick you to get what we want, and I want Jared—alive! He's paid his dues to the Cullens and the pack frankly. Thanks to the Cullens, and I say this without any sarcasm, the pack is stocked: Baker's dozen, plus a back-up of four mega imprint-spawns waiting in the wings, shit possibly six if Leah and Anna weren't just freak accidents and the girls join them."

Kim passed me a plate of buttered toast and continued, "Jared is ready to settle down, and I don't say this out of my own selfishness. Nothing would make me happier than my boys becoming wolves and living forever with Jared after I'm gone, but he doesn't want that. Jared wants to retire. I support him and I wasn't about to let him die in some fight his heart wasn't in."

Claire tip-toed down the stairs and stood at my side listening as Kim's rant went on. "I'm sorry to pull the baby card but there was no other way. And besides maybe now he'll stop that fucking pull out method, cuz I want another baby."


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Quil- Quarrelsome Quil and Claire

* * *

We ate breakfast quickly heading to Sam's to find the rest of the pack. When we got to the door the sounds were bursting through the window, it was a full house and we entered to find wolfs, imprints, and their "mega spawn'" laughing and enthusiastically retelling war tales.

Seth, was wrapped around a very uncomfortable looking Natalia, telling Emily and Sam's boys Mark and David about beheading two ancient vamps in one swipe.

Jared, who was now holding Kim tightly, looked envious as Anna and Michael told him and his sons Taylor and Ethan about tag-teaming a giant Volturi guard, taking him apart as a tag team.

Embry rushed over smacking my arm and kissing Claire's forehead.

"So, Quil survived. I guess we won't be exploring our relationship any further young Ms. Claire," he said winking at Claire who stood dumbfounded at my side.

Smiling widely she asked, "what are you talking about Embry?"

"Well, you know, naturally in the case of Quil's death in the battle field, we would be free to investigate other aspects of our relationship." Her face was priceless as she stared at him, mortified but amused.

"Hmm, and Embry was my only option Quil?" She asked looking up at me.

"Well who else would you want?" Embry wailed, "I'm all a girl needs!"

He was obviously offended, which was amusing but I started to get uncomfortable as her eyes searched the crowd. If she had a choice would she want another wolf?

"Solace," she said quickly. She turned up to me and winked but I couldn't help glaring at Solace who had turned at the sound of his name. He was handsome in that James Dean way and I had the urge to punch him repeatedly.

"Solace? How stereotypical, way to follow the trend. I would treat you like a queen! I would—"

"You're not doing anything," I warned pulling her towards Sam, who had Kim's daughter Amber and Paul's girl Trisha on each of his arms. Sam didn't hide the fact he wanted little girls, and they laughed as he spun them in circles.

"I hope we have girls," I whispered kissing her cheek softly.

"I hope we have boys," she said mashing her eyebrows together.

"Why?" I asked as we reached the porch.

"Because, I want them to be wolves and live with you forever." I had been thinking about that since Kim mentioned it in the morning. Thinking about the day I would stop phasing, but I was hoping it had gone by unnoticed by Claire, it had not.

"I'm going to stop phasing when you turn 30," the words came out of my without thought but once they were out I knew I meant it.

"What? Quil, no!" she stomped her foot.

"Claire, it's what I want," I said quietly.

"Well it's not what I want. I want you to live forever. The world's a better place with you in it," she said trying to make me look in her eyes.

"Claire, we'll talk about this when the time comes. And I want girls because, I want little baby versions of you running around. You were the most beautiful, amazing, adorable, lovable, smart, perfect baby I—"

"Quil, it's a little weird to hear you talking about me as a baby now that we've had sex," she said scrunching up her face adorably.

"Sorry," I said kissing her smirking lips as I smelled Edward and Jake approaching.

The Cullens arrived a few minutes later, Nessie among them, clinging onto Jacob like a shirt. Claire left my side, rushing to Nessie and pulling her away from Jake. I watched as they headed to the corner of the room where they chatted too quietly for me to hear over the racket.

Jasper and Jordan were reliving combat moves for Sam and Jared's boys and I watched as Nessie threw her arms around Claire smoothing out her hair. After another five minutes I couldn't handle her absence from my side and I headed over, but it seems they were over the subject of her capture and were now in full wedding planning mode.

"Claire, you and my mom are going to look so great in green and gold! Oh I'm so happy," Nessie said smiling widely. She was a beautiful girl, but she had nothing on Claire.

"I'm so excited for you," Claire said still holding Nessie's hand. There was something about the way they looked at each other, a kind of understanding or bond that I couldn't really grasp. Jake walked over placing his hand on her shoulder. I must have looked confused because Jake took the time to fill me in.

"We moved up the wedding, it's the week after next," he said raising his eyebrows.

"And Nessie wants us to be in it, isn't that great?" Claire beamed.

"Us?" I asked looking between Jake and Nessie.

"Yeah you man, you're my cousin, one of my best friends," he said smacking my arm. I saw Claire and Nessie look at each other briefly then look away grinning, they were adorable together, and I realized their connection then.

They had always been friendly of course. As toddlers they played nicely, Nessie was always good at sharing, and when Claire was learning how to read, Nessie much bigger than her at that point enjoyed helping her sound out the words. Then later when Claire became interested in boys and didn't want to chat with me about it Nessie was her go-to girl. They skyped and facetimed often but they were never together long enough to form a bond that I could understand till now; they were like a special sect of imprinted girls.

They were not like the other wives, they never knew a life without their other halves and maybe that difference gave them a different perspective on life, an understanding of each other's lives that no others could.

"Man, that's really quick," I said shaking my head at Jake.

"Yeah, well—"

"Quick? We've been together for seven years Jacob Black!" Nessie said with on hand on her hip the other still in Claire's hand.

"Yeah, you better not expect me to wait that long, lover boy," Claire said looking at me with a half-smile.

"Well, we have to wait five years at least, so-"

"What?" Claire pulled her hand out of Nessie's crossing them over her chest and resting her weight on one foot, this was not good she only did that stance when she was serious!

"You have to go to college before we-"

"Why?" _Oh god! Why ask why?_

"Because," I answered the only way I could think of.

" _Because why_?" she continued, and I could see a potential hour of _why_ based arguing ahead of me. I grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the house, exiting out the side door.

"Claire-bear, because I'm not ready. I'm just getting used to the idea of being IN love with you, of kissing you, of… _making love to you_ ," I whispered the last part in her ear.

"I need time. Do you know it's only been two months since I realized that I even wanted you in that way, and only 8 days since we first kissed!" I reasoned with her, she shifted her weight again, which was a good sign, but her arms were still crossed.

"Okay, we'll compromise. One year," she said smirking.

"Can we just talk about it when the time comes?"

"No, Quil! I'm not going to just let you say that every time we disagree on something. This is all new to you but do you know how long I've waited, dreamed, prayed for _us_ to happen? Cuz I do, I remember the exact date my feelings for you changed, when you went from being my best friend to my love interest. Iremember every single shift in our relationship, nanny to teacher, teacher to brother, brother to best friend to fantasy… I could write a timeline for my life using the changes in our relationship!" That was a pretty long speech for Claire who was more the strong silent type, and I had no idea how to respond, but she continued.

"Okay, well, I'm going to travel Europe for a year or two before I go to college so we can wait three years. But I swear Quil, we will be married before I step foot on campus or you better be ready for my crazy college sexual experimentation," she said looking at me sternly and I think she might have only been half joking, but I brushed it aside, because something she said was crushing me.

"You're going to Europe?"

"Yeah, mom and I are already saving, and Nessie says Alice owns a house in Portugal I can stay in— they have amazing architecture there Quil, I can't wait!" her eyes sparkled so beautifully that I didn't even try to argue, even though my heart had fallen to my stomach thumping fast and uncomfortably.

"Oh, okay," was all I could say as I walked back towards the house. Esme had at some point in the afternoon ordered catering and a huge truck of gourmet looking food arrived just as they were leaving.

I hugged Bella and Nessie, and patted Jake on the back as they went. Jake whispered "good luck with that girl of yours," as Nessie jumped on his back and they sped away.

I ate lacklusterly with Paul's daughter Trisha next to me, telling me enthusiastically about all of her new school supplies. I tried to pay attention but all I could think about was Claire going away, hundreds of miles away from me.

I couldn't stop her, I didn't want to, she always wanted to go to France and Italy, to see the museums and paint historic sites… but I felt miserable at the thought of her absence.

"You okay, Uncle Quil," Trisha asked placing her tiny hand on my knee.

"Yeah, I'm fine sweetie. I'm excited about your scented markers though, I used to have those. Blue smells the best," I said smiling at her.

"Blueberry? Yuck, I like lemon best!" she squealed running towards Sam who had cupcakes. Claire came took Trisha's vacated seat and held my free hand.

"I won't go if you don't want me to," she said with no preamble.

"No, I want you to go. You're young, I want you to see the world and do all the things I couldn't."

"Well can't you do them now? Couldn't you come with me?" she asked quietly searching the room.

"I have responsibilities, Claire."

"You _had_ responsibilities. There are enough wolves to take on an army, which you've done _three times_! And look you're all still here. I've heard the legends, the wolves before you didn't stay wolves forever, they retired at some point, which like I said don't want you to do, but I think a good one year vacation is definitely deserved, Quil."

"I agree," Sam said coming around the corner and dropping a half dozen assorted cupcakes in my lap.

"And my shop?" I asked skeptically, the funds from my shop, Embry's part time garage, Jared's construction contracts and the boys Ebay sales kept the pack afloat.

"The boys can look after it, they need something to do now that things are settling down," he said looking at Seth and Phil who were wrestling playfully in the lawn.

"I'll think about it." I don't like being ambushed.

"Good," they said in unison.

When we had eaten more than our fill, I said my goodbyes and headed to my truck exhausted from all of the bickering and a night of little sleep. Claire hopped in the van and I headed down the road towards her house.

"Let's go to your place," she said with a smirk, and even though I was exhausted, I couldn't imagine anything I would rather be doing. I was not going to argue about that!


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Claire- Abstractly Expressing My Dread

* * *

The week before the wedding I was in full artist mode. If I wasn't at school, sleeping, sexing up Quil or eating (which were sometimes combined), I was painting.

I was moving away from my Native American inspired realist water colors done on Chinese style scrolls and moving into the exact polar opposite—abstract expressionism done in oils on canvas.

I was enthralled and inspired, doing works in series of three on ten by ten canvases with one central color. My first color was red and the set, bold and slightly reminiscent of Franz Klein, now hung in the waiting room of Embry's newly acquired auto-shop by Quillayute River Resort, bought on loan from Jacob.

Embry's full staff of four was getting a surprising amount of business in the first week, due to a rather large advertisement in the Olympic Peninsula Enquirer, a present from Nessie for the wolves help rescuing her.

The beginning of my junior year uneventful, and Quil and I didn't have any more tiffs, although that might have been because he avoided any hot topics. I did decide though one night, while I was painting the second piece in the yellow series, that I wouldn't be going to Europe. I would stay in La Push for a year working on my art work in the studio Quil set up for me in his apartment.

Actually, I didn't come to the decision entirely on my own, after being measured for my bridesmaid's dress, Nessie said something that really affected me. She was picking out materials when she said, "You know what never ceases to amaze me? These guys, our wolves, they've spent more than a decade stuck to us and they never complain."

Her words haunted me. I couldn't sleep well for two days after that. He had imprinted on me at two and I thought that that just meant he knew when I got older we would be together. I didn't stop to think that it meant he had stayed by my side because he had no other choice. I started to feel unbelievably guilty, how could I leave him after he waited for me for so long?

But then did that mean I couldn't go to college? Was it being selfish if I wanted to get a degree out of state? All my classmates were talking about ACTs and SATs, but should I even bother? Maybe since I wanted to be an artist anyway, I could just skip it all together… I could study online and maybe take weekend classes at the community college in Port Angeles. I knew for sure I couldn't go to Europe and explore when Quil was bound to La Push.

I was selfishly a little angry at him for the whole thing, couldn't he have waited till I was legal to imprint? But then no matter what I missed out on, I would still have Quil, which was always a comforting thought. I could be a housewife like Emily, have a whole litter of adorable mini-Quil's…

It sounded good in theory, but I knew deep down I couldn't handle staying at home all day. I needed to talk to someone, but I knew my mom and Emily would be partial to my travels and education and I wanted Quil to be represented fairly. When the thoughts and conflict in my head got to be too much for me to deal with on my own I couldn't continue painting. Not bothering to change out of my painting clothes I hopped in my mom's car and headed to Kim's.

I don't know why I hadn't thought about it before, Kim worked as a youth prevention specialist at the community center, she had to have dealt with college decisions, young love, and I know she knew all about imprinting. When I got to Kim's I was pleased to find Natalia, Rachel and Helen already there chatting in Kim's kitchen, as she started to make dinner.

"Hey beautiful, nice to see you here," Rachel greeted. Kim evaluated me and paused, putting down the knife she was using to chop onions and looked at me straight on.

"What's up?" She asked looking a bit worried.

"Um, well," my voice cracked and I could feel the tears coming, so I launched into the speech before I could break down. "I really love, Quil I do! But I don't know what to do, I hate it when girls base their lives on their boyfriends, but I feel so guilty because he spent fourteen years following me around—and I can't just up and leave— but I want to go to Europe! And I want to travel and do art and go to college and learn art history and kiss girls at parties and change my major five times and join a sorority and drink too much and do all the things that people should do in college, but I can't because he's tied to me and I'm being selfish but I—I—," the tears started before I could finish, which was good because I didn't even know where I was going with it.

Kim and Rachel stared at me in silence, and when I stared at them waiting for one of them to talk Rachel and Natalia erupted in giggles.

"Kiss girls and drink too much?" Natalia squeaked. Helen cleared her throat loudly and the giggles stopped. Helen was a quiet and sort of serious lady, so I respected her opinion.

"Wanting to live your life doesn't mean you're selfish or that you don't love him," Helen said patting my hand. Rachel nodded in agreement and I looked to Kim for more.

"What happened?" Kim asked sitting down.

"I just-just realized that he spent like a decade following me, waiting for me to be old enough to be with, making sure that everything in my life was perfect, and taking care of me and I ca-can't just leave him, I'm st-stuck here and I real-really wish it didn't make me so sad but it does," I admitted.

"What? Honey, no! He didn't—he didn't stick around you just for _that_ ," Rachel said her eyes pleading the others to back her up.

"Of course not, Claire. You have to know how much he cares about and respects you," Helen added nodding.

"Claire, there was no way I could have ever stood by and watched some man preparing you to become his child bride. You have to know that, right? I have never seen anyone, anyone, love and care about a child as much as Quil did you. You know when I heard about Quil imprinting on you, I freaked out, I couldn't even look at him for days— but when I saw you two together, I was convinced. I was even a little jealous, I knew you would have the very best life. You would never have to want for anything or ever feel unloved, unwanted, like I spent the first seventeen years of my life. He wants you to be happy, he does everything for you, so don't go giving yourself a complex like Nessie," she said smirking at me.

"What do ya mean?" I asked wiping my eyes.

"That girl's got a guilt complex so big it occupy its own private island," Kim said standing up again and returning to her onions.

"Just listen to her, whenever she talks about him she throws in little side about his tie, his sacrifices, his strings, his losses. Come on," Kim said looking around at us. "Am I the only one that ever pays attention?" she asked rolling her eyes. I shrugged, it wasn't that I didn't listen, Kim was just very insightful.

"Never mind, it doesn't matter. You have to realize Claire it's not just about mating, there are hundreds of thousands of girls that can pop out a baby, and it's not just genes. Your sister is two years older than you and he didn't imprint on her, it was _you_. You were meant for him, meaning whatever road your life is going to take you on, he was meant to walk it with you."

"I used to think like that too," Rachel said, Kim turned and gaped at her in surprise. The two of them were very close, and this was obviously news to Kim. "I used to think that Paul only imprinted on me because of my family, but it's more than that, we're two halves, they need us just as much as we need them."

"And he won't be happy unless you are," Helen added, Natalia the only unimprinted girl in the room had nothing to add. She looked out the window sullenly.

My tears had stopped but it didn't change how I felt. If we were halves of one then I definitely couldn't leave, being a wolf was what made Quil happiest and proudest.

The night before the wedding Nessie threw a party for the ladies- so me, Kim, Rachel, Helen, Anna and the newest wolf-girl Natalia, headed to the old Cullen house. Quil kissed me goodbye, waving us away as Jake, in a jeep of vamps, drove up.

Esme, Rosalie, Alice, Bella and Nessie were waiting for us with a gaggle of vampires I had to try to remember the names of. There was a beautiful strawberry blond named Tanya, her sister a short dirty blond named Kate, an older Spanish woman (who hit it off wonderfully with Natalia) named Carmen, three big jungle sisters with names I couldn't pronounce that all started with like Xes and Zes, two other exotic half breeds (sisters to Tanya's lover Nahuel) named Gisele and Leticia who stood quietly in the corner, and Tia the youngest and possibly the most beautiful of them all.

Tia was sweet, although her red eyes scared the shit out of me, and we talked a good part of the night. I don't think Quil would have appreciated me sidling up to a read human blood sucker but she was very comforting and calm.

Kim and Kate hit it off quickly, and the two of them were making raunchy jokes the whole night, much to the discomfort of a blushing Nessie. The humans and half breeds drank merrily and sometime around midnight we called it a night. I ended up behind the wheel as the only one who had not drank herself into a stupor, though with my poor driving skills one of them might have been better off.

I dropped everyone off and was back to my house by two am, where I found Quil snoring softly in my bed. He rolled over, waking as I entered.

"Did you have fun?" He asked kissing my forehead.

"Yeah it was great, I made friends with a really nice vampire named Tia," I said yawning as I changed into my nightgown.

"Oh, um… that's nice," he said lamely.

"I know, Quil. Nice vampire not really part of your vocab, but she was pretty cool, trust me," I said kissing his cheek as I slid into bed. He wrapped his arm around my waist quickly fell back asleep. I lie awake for a few hours more, thinking about our future and watching dawn break outside my window before my eyes finally fell shut.

"Wow, you look beautiful," Renesme said looking up at me through heavily makeup-ed eyes.

"Me? Geez, you're like a goddess!" I exclaimed examining her closely.

She wore a fifties inspired white dress with lace detail, that was cut off just below her knee. Her hair was done up elaborately, with only a single braid that looked like a headband, which was used to keep up her veil that was attached to a beautiful beaded Quileute-made comb. Around her ankle hung a thin gold chain and she was bare foot, which was part of Quileute tradition.

"These really turned out nicely," she beamed and ran her hand down the side of my dress.

It was the most beautiful dress I had even worn. Beautiful dark sage, and low cut with gold band directly under my breast, which were looking quite nice in the dress might I add.

We had had twenty minutes before the ceremony and Nessie was starting to get antsy. She paced back and forth, back and forth at the forest clearing. I thought she might pass out so I grabbed her hand and we played never-have-I-ever; which turned out to be depressing for me, because I realized that I have never done a lot of things…

"Never have I ever ridden a horse," I said dishearteningly, as she put another finger down. She looked at me worried.

"Not much fun honestly, horses are smelly. I prefer riding Jake," she assured me, realizing a second later the double meaning and bursting into peals of laughter.

Alice came to count down the minutes and tell us our cues again, and we waited for the music to start. With my arm linked in Quil's we made our way into the perfect circular clearing down a small path, lined with white seats. At the very front there was a small trellis archway covered in purple and white flowers.

When we got to the front, Quil kissed my cheek and released me, standing at his place next to Jacob as I moved to the left of where Nessie would soon be. The music changed and I watched with teary eyes as Nessie walked down the aisle flanked by both of her parents. She kissed them both before they handed her to Jake and took their seats.

The ceremony was presided over by tribal elders and they said traditional vows in Quileute as well as their own written ones. I tried to listen but I couldn't keep my eyes off of Quil, mesmerized by his formal wear and his beautiful warm brown eyes that didn't drop from mine.

As Jake repeated his vows read by Billy, Quil mouthed them lightly looking at me intently, and I did the same when it was Nessie's turn, although I said them more fluidly having heard them so many times before. When their hands were tied together, Quil put his hand over his heart and I smiled, wishing more than anything that I could kiss him. As soon as they were pronounced husband and wife and were walking back down the aisle, Quil ripped me off of the ground and kissed me so passionately I felt dizzy when he released me.

"I want to marry you the day you get back from Europe," he said still holding me.

"I'm not going to Europe," I said trying to smile. "Let's do it when I graduate next year I want a summer wedding," I said touching his soft warm cheek with the palm of my hand.

"I want you to go," he said insisted.

"No, I can wait. We'll go after I turn 30 and you stop phasing," I said swallowing hard.

"I thought you didn't want me to stop—"

"I want you to do what you want to do, I'm not going to stop you or push you into anything again," I said turning my face away, I didn't want him to see how unhappy I was about this, because I shouldn't be.

"Okay," he said uncertainly, as I realized that we were the only two left in the clearing. And that was it no fight, no discussion, we had everything settled. I would stay in La Push, we would get married and I would be the best housewife Quil could have ever dreamed of. He kissed me hesitantly and pulled me onto his back then he rushed over to the Cullen mansion where the reception had already started.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Quil- Two Packs

* * *

"I want you to do what you want to do, I'm not going to stop you or push you into anything again," she said turning her face away from me. I didn't even know how to respond to that, but I saw the sadness in her profile and I didn't argue it.

"Okay," I said wanting desperately for her to look at me, to smile.

I pulled her on my back realizing we had lingered for so long no one was left to drive her to the Cullens. When we arrived she hopped off, thanked me and scampered away; I couldn't figure it out. Had I done something to upset her? I watched as she hugged and kissed Jake and Nessie and moved to sit with Seth and Natalia who were already settled in the corner.

I tried not to stare at her, congratulating the new couple and drinking a few beers with Paul and Collin. Alcohol doesn't affect us easily, our temperature is too high and it burns off the alcohol before it can build-up in our blood stream. Seth, Embry and I learned this after many hilarious failed attempts. I do like the taste of beer though and if you drank them fast enough you could get a small buzz.

"What's with the starefest?" Collin asked following my eyes to Claire.

"Hmm?" I hadn't been listening.

"Why are you staring at Claire like you're going to cry?" He asked, as the music started and Nessie took the floor with Jake.

"She's mad at me," I said not wanting to look in their eyes. Helen and Rachel never got mad at them. I had to be like the worst excuse for an imprinter in the entire history of imprinting. I imprinted on a baby, I let her break her leg that one time, I made her cry, stopped her from going and seeing the world… now she was going to resent me for the rest of our lives and—

"Yeah, Rachel's pissed at me too," Paul said picking up another beer.

"What? Rach never gets angry with you," I said pulling myself out of my abyss.

"You fucking kidding me man? I'm always screwing something up," Paul said his eyes wandering over to Rachel, who was sitting with Kim and Helen.

"They always forgive us though," Collin said, just as Brady rushed to us.

"Embry imprinted man," he announced smirking evilly.

"About damn time," Paul whooped.

"What? Why are you smiling like that? Is it a vampire?" I asked searching the crowd for Embry.

"Well, she's half vampire, but that's not why I'm smiling," he giggled maniacally and I search the crowd again.

"What? What's up?" Collin asked his eyes searching the crowd as well. There was a surprising lack of shapeshifters in the crowd; I could only see Seth, Anna, Leah and Michael right now. Leah was in the center of the group and I listened in.

"Embry's going to kill him—" she said and Michael shot out of his seat.

"Embry imprinted on her at the ceremony, and when he tried to find her," Brady started to explain but he couldn't continue he was laughing too hard.

Kim grabbed Michael's arm, "don't get involved. It's between Embry and Solace," she said and I could guess what had happened. Seth was up and already heading back towards the clearing; I followed him.

"Man, Solace just can't keep his hands to himself, can he?" Seth said as we sprinted together. About half way back to the clearing we heard voices.

"Calm the fuck down, Embry!" It was Phil. I had never heard him scream before, he wasn't much for confrontation, but Solace was his best friend and I was sure he would have his back.

I rushed forward, if Solace had a second then Embry needed me. If pack member _violates_ another wolf's imprint it would be a battle to the death and each wolf would have to pick a second. My heart started beating in my throat. I evaluated the situation, sizing up the competition. It made me sick to think of them that way, but if I had to fight them for Embry, I would.

"Go, all of you! Get out of here, Solace you can pick your second if you like, same for you Embry, but everyone else has to go," Sam said looking at the crowd. With the exception of Jake we were all here now, and I saw Paul inching towards Embry.

"Sam you can't be serious. We don't need to fight, it doesn't have to be like this!" Krys screamed from behind Jordan, who nodded.

"If you allow this to happen Sam, it's going to mean a division of the pack, old against new," Jordan said putting his arm around Solace. He was surrounded by the new members, except for Anna who looked pleadingly at Paul, standing behind Embry.

I made my way to Embry's side and Anna, after having failed to talk reason into Paul, stood beside her boyfriend. I stared at Solace with a mixture of revulsion and pity. I knew he probably didn't mean for this to happen, but at the same time I was still a little raw about Claire's apparent soft spot for him.

We stood there, Sam in the middle with two full and apparently separate packs. On my side all of the original pack, Collin, Brady, Paul, Jared, me, Seth and Embry. And on the other side the new comers: Anna, Michael, Phil, Krys, Jordan and Solace. We had one more wolf, if this came to a fight we had the advantage, but the thought was nauseating. I couldn't imagine having to fight Krys or Anna. Claire would kill me if we hurt her.

"Jordan's right, Sam, he didn't mean anything by it. He met her two nights ago, they've been going at it since. He had no idea Embry was going to imprint on-"

"You're not a part of this pack anymore, so stay the fuck out of it Leah," Embry screamed at Leah who had just spoken up.

"Don't talk to my sister like that!" Seth wailed walking to her side.

We were even in numbers now: six to six. I hated myself for thinking this way but my wolf mind was taking over.

Jake came into the clearing just then, followed by Jasper; my heart slowed immediately and I unclenched my hands, which I hadn't noticed I had been balled into fist. Jasper was calming the crowd.

"What's going on?" Jake asked, going automatically to Embry's side.

"I found Solace fucking my imprint!" Embry screamed with rage.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Solace screamed putting up his hands defensively. "First of all, I wasn't fucking, I was touching, just touching! Secondly, I met her first, two fucking nights ago," Solace argued. "Third, I didn't know imprinted on her, man!" Solace screamed, probably the most I heard him speak in months.

"Oh man, that's fucked," Jake said, attempting not to smile. "Who'd you imprint on Em?"

"Me," a small and tanned girl with extremely long curly reddish-brown hair walked into the clearing. Embry stiffened immediately at the sight of her and Solace looked suddenly at the floor.

"Leticia," Embry and Solace both sighed. Embry growl at him and my hairs were standing on end, Jasper's whammy was wearing off.

"You are not going to fight," she said with a very deep accent I couldn't quite place, her voice was high pitched and beautiful. She was very beautiful, very exotic like the models in a Victoria Secret's ad.

"No man owns me. Now get back to ze party, and don't ruin der wedding," she said looking straight into Embry's eyes. He gulped and I could feel Jasper sending out another wave of calm.

Embry nodded and then glared at Solace before following her back to the party. The tension resolved momentarily and Paul crossed the invisible line, picking up Anna and carrying her back to the reception his back. Seth smacked Solace on the arm, and he smiled at him.

That was dangerously close to a fight, I felt tense all over and worried. This was an end for now but it didn't feel resolved and unless Solace backed down, he might be killed. I didn't mean to but I started to create a montage in my head of his combat style, and I could see Jared on my right was thinking along the same lines.

When I got back to the house, I immediately searched for Claire and I found her dancing with Edward. The music and all of the commotion around me was too loud to hear what they were whispering about, but I could see she was smiling and nodding as he spoke.

Kim came and put her arm around me.

"No worries, Quil. She's all yours, I promise," she said crossing her heart.

"She's mad at me," I blurted it out without thinking. Kim sort of had that effect on people, like a bartender or barber; you just wanted to tell her all of your troubles.

"She's not mad at you, she's mad at the situation. She's seventeen and she thinks her life has already been decided for her and you're not helping the situation much, Mr. I-need-to-stay-in-La-Push-till-the-day-I-die!" Kim said smacking the back of my head. I growled but she didn't even flinch, she was too tough to be scared of a wolf.

"You don't scare me, Quil. You're a big old softy, I've seen you in drag—on multiple occasions. Look, the start of an imprinting relationship is always hard. If this whole wolf thing wasn't a secret I'd write a book about it, cuz me and Jared had a nightmare first few months, and I gained a whole catalogue of knowledge about relationships after that. Rachel and Paul- you know how short that guy's fuse used to be, and Collin, oh lord, don't get me started," she said lighting up a cigarette as she strolled away from the crowd, I followed her.

"What I'm trying to say, Quil, is that imprinting doesn't just mean happily ever after, you have to work on it. She might be sexually mature, but she's got a lot to learn, maybe you both do. And if that means you have to let her go on her own journey, let her see the world, discover herself and grow as a person then that's what you have to do."

"I told her she could go," I defended myself.

"Yeah that's the problem, Quil. You told her she could, as if she should ask you, you don't own the girl and she's not stupid. She can see through you. She knows you better than anyone knows you, and she loves you. She won't leave if she knows it makes you unhappy and in the end you'll both be unhappy," I didn't look at her. She was right. Kim was almost always right, annoyingly.

I trudged my way back to the crowd. I had to let her go, and even though the thought was scary I was happy with it, because I knew she would be. When our eyes locked she ran towards me, letting go of Edward who gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. She was so beautiful, so utterly amazing that I thought I felt the world move again.

"Hey, I missed you," she said jumping into my arms. I held her tightly and kissed her hair, inhaling her scent. She still smelled like almonds and honey, but I could smell Edward on her too and I tried to ignore the odor as she leaned up and kissed me.

"I missed you too," I whispered, planting three soft kisses on her lips. She closed her eyes tight and I examined her beautiful innocent face, wondering how different it would look when she came back to me.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Claire- Wolf Girls Convene

* * *

When we got to the party I headed over to Natalia and Seth who were sitting in the corner. I watched them closely, trying to pick up some pointers. Before Quil, I'd only had two boyfriends: Bobby Stevens the cry-baby and Adrian Lovett, Mr. Grabby Hands—so I wasn't really an expert on dating.

Seth was jokingly quizzing her on different obscure Spanish words, some of which even _she_ didn't know. They were adorable together, so cute that I started to worry. Seth hadn't imprinted on Natalia, they had connected in a completely normal way, but their relationship was so much more natural. They didn't fight, they didn't even seem to disagree, and they even had the same interests.

Quil and I had none of that, we clashed constantly and we had nothing in common, shit Quil didn't even know the difference between impressionist and expressionist art! He did try though. I was being too hard on him and I was asking for too much. I had something good, something amazing and I needed to accept it as is.

The dance floor started to fill and Natalia pulled me up with her, swaying to the pop music. The beautiful pixie Alice joined us, her cold hand resting on my shoulder. I smiled at her as the music changed and Jasper pulled her into a waltz. Natalia called for Seth and I started to leave the dance floor when Edward stopped me. I smiled at him widely and he held his hand out bowing, he was pretty hot in a tux.

"Thank you, I guess I do clean up nicely," he said standing straight and pulling me to him.

"So you can really hear all of my screwed up thoughts?" I asked as he guided me to the music.

"Actually your thoughts are rather refreshing," he said with a crooked smile as we turned elaborately.

"Refreshing? Well that's an underused adjective," I said giggling.

"Yes, so many high-quality adjectives go unused," he joked. I missed this, the whole joking thing. Quil and I used to joke, to fuck around before… before we actually started fucking around and everything got all complicated.

"Compromise," he said as he dipped me all super vampire-graceful.

"Huh?"

"Sorry, I do that sometimes, I have a head full of thoughts I occasionally forget explanations."

"I do that too! Half the time people have no idea what I'm talking about," he nodded with a smirk.

"You and Quil, you need to learn how to make compromises." This was a little creepy, how much did he know about our situation?

"I know enough. It's a new relationship, and there are constantly issues with new relationships. You are equally strong-willed people, you're liable to clash a bit," he said spinning me again. I already made the compromise, it was done, decided.

"You didn't make a compromise, you made a sacrifice and Quil won't benefit from a miserable wife," he said pulling me closer.

"I'm not miserable," I huffed.

"Not yet," he said in a sing-song voice.

"You remind me so much of Nessie. She was only a teenager for a few months, you know? She was so passionate though, so full of life, there's something about being a teenager; it's the only time in a human life that you could feel so much fire," he chuckled and his voice was like music, it was a nice sound but it made me miss Quil so bad. Quil had the best his throaty chuckle that filled the room as forced you to join in.

Edward smiled even more widely, "you're also a little like Bella, so in love," he teased poking my cheek.

"So what do you suggest I do?" I asked trying to keep my tone of voice light, but I was worried about his answer, I trusted his opinion but I was—

" _You_ shouldn't do anything; the two of you should talk," he said spinning me again.

"We did, and it just ended with tantrums," I said trying not to think about my sleepless nights.

"Losing sleep, already? Every problem has a solution and you're going to need to work it out together."

"You know Edward, you should write a book or maybe have a show. Where did you learn all of this?"

"I live with four couples and I'm over a hundred years old, so that helps," Edward said as the music changed.

"Hmph! And you don't look a _day_ over 18," I joked as we sped up to the tempo.

"Quil's watching. I think it would be wise to end this dance early, we've had enough shape-shifter drama for the night," He said pulling away and kissing my cheek quickly. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I nodded my head as if I agreed.

"Hey, I missed you," I said jumping eagerly into Quil's outstretched arms.

"I missed you too," he whispered kissing me softly. I closed my eyes savoring the moment until I realized he was staring at me.

"What?" I asked pouting.

"You're just so beautiful," he said breathlessly. I blushed, giggling before I remembered what Edward said.

"What happened?" I asked scanning the crowd and seeing that there were at least five wolves missing. Quil inhaled deeply searching the room before he spoke, his eyes landed on Embry who looked lost in the center of the dance floor alone.

"Embry imprinted," he said blankly.

"And why is that bad? Was it a baby? A vamp?" I asked my eyes still glued on Embry who looked utterly hopeless.

"Not bad really, she's not a baby, probably hundreds of years old, and only half vamp," Quil said frowning as he watched Embry.

"Why so cryptic then? Does she have a mate or something?"

"Or something, by the name of Solace," he said harshly.

"That boy just can't keep his hands to himself, can he?" I asked giggling.

"Apparently not. They got _close_ and I don't know, I think he's intending on keeping it up even with the imprint. That's cause for a battle," he said sounding all official.

"A battle? Between brothers? Over a girl? No bros before hoes policy in the handbook?" I joked.

"She's not just some girl, she's his imprint. If anyone ever touched you," he couldn't finish he cut off shaking.

"Quil, there's no one but you, but seriously a battle? Like to the death?"

"Yeah, or until he submits," he said much too calmly for me.

"So Embry's going to kill Solace, just like that?" I asked mortified.

"I don't know. If Solace doesn't back down then there will have to be a fight, there is too much disrespect… I don't think it's just going to be between Embry, me, Solace and Phil though, I think—"

"Whoa! WHOA! WHOA! You? You're actually going to get involved in this? You're going to help kill Solace, kill Phil! They're your brothers, your family! I grew up with Phil and Solace! Phil taught me how to multiply, you gotta be joking!" I screamed as Quil pulled me away from the crowd.

"Claire-bear, this isn't up to me. This is up to Embry and I don't think he's going to be able to just stand by and be made a fool of like this. And if Embry's fighting I'm his second, I've known him all my life, he's my best friend," he said his eyes pleading, I turned away. I was doing it again, arguing with him, telling him what to do. Tears started to form in my eyes and I tried to blink them back.

"I understand," I lied.

Of course I didn't understand, I couldn't understand. I could never imagine even for one second Jared fighting Sam over Kim, or Collin attacking Brady over Helen. I smiled and apologized walking back towards the crowd, his hand caught me and turned me back around just as tears streamed down my face.

"No. Stop, Claire. I'm sorry," he rambled.

"No, I am. I said I wouldn't argue with you like two hours ago, and here I am. You do what you have to do, I love you. I'll support you."

"I'll talk to them. I have no idea what's going through Solace's mind right now," he said brushing his thumb across my cheek.

"Half of the pack has left," I said feeling dumb, as I looked at the crowd.

"Yeah. You noticed, huh? The newer wolves, they're defending Solace. They had a different experience than the original pack. The six of them all phased really close to each other—and they knew each other in school. Jordan and Michael are brothers. Solace and Phil were already friends. Solace was dating Anna. Krys is Anna's third cousin or something like that. It was easy to guess what side they would take…" he broke off as Seth walked towards us.

"We're having a pack meeting," he said more seriously than I had ever seen him speak. "An… original pack meeting. Sam has some new."

I saw Kim, Emily, Rachel, Natalia and Helen were all huddled in a corner and I kissed him goodbye before joining the wolf-girls.

"Is he planning on being Embry's second?" Rachel asked as soon as I entered the circle.

"Yes," was the only word I could muster.

"Men! Stupid testosterone ridden men!" Helen wailed. We all looked at her in shock. Now, if Kim had said it we would have all nodded in agreement, but with Helen it was different. She was a very calm women, quiet and reserved— a librarian, literally, a librarian. It was always a surprise when she spoke, but it was like a sign of the apocalypse when she screamed.

"Solace will back down, he knows he's in the wrong," Emily said not sounding too confident.

"No, not this time. The newbies have always stayed separate, separate but not equal. Sam, no offence Emily, doesn't use them as readily because they were made for a big battle that never came. Jordan's been unhappy for years, planning to run off. I think this is their chance," Kim said sighing.

"How bout Michael then? Or Anna?" I asked.

"Jordan and Michael's family are all dead, they won't separate. Anna is his wife, that's a given. Solace has nothing holding him down here, which just leaves Krys—he's not going to stay behind when all of his friends leave," Kim said lighting up a pink cigarette, even in the seriousness of the situation I had to eye it. "Yeah, had to get festive for the occasion," she said taking another drag.

"Krys has friends here!" Emily insisted.

"Paul's really going to be heartbroken if Anna leaves," Rachel frowned.

"I'm going to be heartbroken," Nessie said joining the circle, she was wearing an adorable red dress, and holding on to Jake. "You guys keep me posted okay? You have my number— and if you need anything, anything call my mom, okay!" She kissed us all good-bye and rushed away, the crowd all screaming their congratulations.

"Come on ladies, let's move this sexy-lady party to my house, the baby-sitter's being paid till ten, we still have three and a half hours of debauchery to look forward to," Kim said linking her arms with Rachel.

"I'd suggest strip poker but Helen's a cheater," Rachel said nudging me and pulling me towards the car. I couldn't help but laugh, I love these girls!

"Can I join you?" A soft accented voice came from behind me, causing me to jump.

Behind us stood a honey skinned beauty, timidly watching the floor.

"Sure," I said awkwardly, checking with the rest of the girls for a conformation. Kim grinned.

"Leticia, right? Embry's girl."

"Vell, I am Leticia, but I'm no one's girl," she said a bit dryly.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Quil- The Division

* * *

"We're having a pack meeting," Seth said his eyes probing me. "An… original pack meeting. Sam has some news," he sighed.

Claire pulled my face to hers. She gave me a quick kiss and ran to her girls. I hated to leave her after we had yet another tiff but I followed Seth. We walked about half way back to La Push when I heard Collin, he was angry.

"—ya know? I don't like this. Having a meeting with just us is excluding them farther from the group. And how about us? Me and Brady, where do we fit into all of this? We were too young to fight when the newborns came, where do we stand? Are we not a part of this mega OG pack? It's ridiculous, you guys are my brothers, my family. Where did this division come from?"

"Collin, it's not about who you battled, you're my brother because you wanted to be," Embry spoke.

"When they joined us they separated themselves. They live together, they eat together, they work together, and they patrol together," Sam reasoned. He sounded tired and defeated.

When I finally broke the clearing. I found Jared and Paul standing close, next to Collin and Brady, across from Sam and Embry.

"If you knew this, then why the hell didn't you try to fucking integrate them better, say something about it? You allowed them to isolate themselves and-"

"Collin, please stop, okay?" Anna's voice came from our right and we all turned to look at her. Paul took a step forward but stopped and stepped back.

"We aren't planning a battle. I hope you guys know that. I'm here as… well as a representative, I guess. Look this has almost nothing to do with when we joined or how we knew each other before okay? You have to believe that," she pleaded.

"Then what the fuck is this, Anna," Paul was angry. His hands were shaking violently, but Anna didn't flinch, she stood right next to him, putting her little arm around his waist.

"We were young when we joined you, even younger than Collin and Brady. I had just turned fourteen when I phased for the first time, I was just starting to grow breast and one day I spouted way too much body hair," she joked, no one laughed.

"We stuck together not because we wanted to be separate from you, but because we needed each other. We were terrified almost constantly, we were just past being afraid of the boogey-man and you threw real boogey-man at us and told us to attack. We accepted that, and we love you. You know we do," she said looking up at Paul. "I never had a real family till I joined the pack, we aren't leaving because we-"

"You're leaving?" Seth cried.

"Yes, Seth, we're leaving. We aren't leaving because of the imprint though, okay? Solace is sorry, he wants you to know that, he had no idea," Anna continued.

"Then what the fuck is this about, Anna?" His words were harsh, but Paul's eyes were almost pleading.

"We want to live, Paul. We were so young when we changed we didn't even have a chance to dream, to plan, to hope for the future, and after we phased it was like we couldn't. We were bound protectors of La Push, we had no futures," she said her eyes now glued to Brady. He looked away, but I could tell he was conflicted.

"Jordan has been planning to leave for over a year now, he and Phil saved up enough money to go to college in the spring but they didn't know how to bring it up. That's why they visited Leah in Seattle so much this summer... they wanted to see their new campus. This _incident_ just rushed the plans a bit," Anna was looking at Sam now, watching for a reaction. She continued. "Our online business has been going really well. We've hooked up with these hardware distributors and we want to open our own hardware store. We're not leaving as some warring faction, it's nothing personal."

"You could open the business here," Seth suggested.

"Michael and Jordan won't separate, and business will be better in Seattle. We won't be far, we would be here—"

"Who says we're letting you go?" Embry said coolly.

"I was hoping you didn't go there Em. Look, they've talked to Leah about it, if it comes down to it, they will leave the pack and join hers. Since Jacob is gone she's in charge and she's ready to take them in," Anna said her lips pressed tightly together.

"They? Them? And how about you," Paul asked hopefully.

"Leah's going to help me stop phasing. When she stopped phasing, she started to have her… monthly cycles again. We think it means that if I stop, I could have a baby," she said quietly and added. "I'm ready for a baby." We stood there for a long time, in complete silence, no one daring to look at each other.

"Congratulations," Sam said unexpectedly.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"You're just going to let them leave?" Paul asked indignantly.

"I'm not their master, they have served La Push for many years and they want to live their lives. Paul, Jared, that goes for you to, I want you to know that you are free to leave the pack, to stop phasing or stop patrolling. You all will always be brothers and sisters to me," Sam said looking down at Embry. We were silent again, for more a few long minutes before Brady spoke.

"So, they're leaving… Jared and Paul aren't going to phase anymore… and Quil is going to Europe, so what? That leaves us with—" I cut Brady off.

"I'm not going anywhere, especially if we're only down to four wolves," I said quickly.

"Five," Seth corrected.

"And that's more than enough, Quil," Sam continued.

"Mine and Embry's entire staff are going to Seattle, Sam," I said shooting him a glare.

"Forget the store, Sam you don't see the danger we're in now? The vampire world doesn't have a government anymore, who even knows what that means? They don't have police anymore they're completely free of any fear. Jasper told us about the southern wars, they only stopped because of the Volturi. We live in one of the only states vampires can inhabit without fear of being exposed. This is going to be vampire heaven soon," Embry reasoned.

I hadn't thought about that yet, we killed the Volturi for revenge, out of spite and because it was our duty, but we didn't really think about what that would mean for other vampires. The Volturi were their government, a tyrannical government they all feared, but the peasants were free now… they could eat cake.

"Which is why it would be good to have five werewolves in Seattle," Anna added.

"Our duty is to our people," Jared said glaring at her.

"Our duty is to all people, to protect all human life," Seth said more loudly than necessary.

"So you agree with this?" Collin asked.

"If they want to go then let them, they have done their jobs. And Jared and Paul as well… and when you decided to stop phasing, I'll support you too," Sam said nodding.

I didn't want to be here, I didn't want to talk about this anymore, I was tired and pissed and disappointed and I wanted to be alone—and by alone I meant with Claire.

"And they will be here, if there is something, something big and you need them, they will be here. They want you to know that," Anna said looking around at all of us, I turned away.

"I'm going to see Claire," was all I said following Claire's scent.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Claire- The Compromise

* * *

"So tell us about yourself, Butterscotch," Kim said shuffling the deck of cards. We were in Kim's kitchen with a couple of beers and a half-vampire we knew nothing about.

"Batter-scott?" Leticia asked looking at Kim confused.

"Butterscoth, it's a candy and a color. I think she's referring to your beautiful skin," Emily tried to explain.

"No Butterscotch? Hmm… I'lll think of a better nickname later," Kim said dealing out the cards.

"Vell, I usually find calling someone by their name works well," Leticia said smirking. Her smile was alluring— at Nessie's bachelorette party I was too busy with Tia to notice her, but now with the full force of her beauty sitting next to me I was in awe.

She was a short (shorter than me and that was saying something), stern looking girl with an impossible accent and a slight attitude. Her auburn locks were perfectly curled and hung just past her butt. Butterscotch was definitely an appropriate nickname for her, her skin was like a glowing piece of butterscotch, and her heart shaped face was perfectly balanced with extremely large eyes: one hazel brown the other a shocking green.

"Well, in most cases that's true but one, I can't pronounce your name worth a damn and two—you're a wolf-girl now and wolf girls all get wolf-girl pack names," Kim said pointing to Rachel, "that's Teach," Rachel waved. "Over there we got Momma Bear, or just Bear for short," she said gesturing to Emily who tipped an imaginary hat, Kim giggled and turned to Helen. "This here is Mistress," Helen saluted like an army general. "Our newest fully pledge member, Princess-Claire," she said pointing at me, and I nodded solemnly.

"And now we've got two more recruits, Miss Natalia here is finally in on the—"

"And you?" Leticia interrupted Kim. "What's your nick-name?"

"Well most people call me Bitch but—"

"She's Doc, its short for The Love Doctor. If you ever have any problems with Embry she's the girl to go to," Rachel cut in chuckling.

"I got it, Natalia for your nickname, how about-"

"I am not going to have any problems with Embry, because I do not intend on having any sort of relationship with him," Leticia said dryly. Kim and Emily stopped laughing and turned to face her.

"You haven't met him yet, he's very sweet," Helen interjected.

"I am already interested in someone and I like him very much," she said defensively.

"Who? Solace?" Rachel asked.

"Yes."

"Butterscotch, you're just another stop on the Solace Train. Natalia's been there, Helen too," Kim said winking at Helen who scowled.

"Could we not go down that road again," Helen howled, putting her head in her hands. I was dumbfounded, I knew that Anna had dated Solace before she got with Michael, but Helen too?

"No fucking way!" I screamed. I knew these women my entire life, but I had never known them like this. I begged Helen to tell me her tale.

It was such a relief, so amazing to hear the stories of how they came to be here, who they were before and how they changed. Even Leticia warmed up, telling her own tale, which for a two hundred year-old women was surprisingly dull, although I guessed she was giving us the abridged version.

Quil came around midnight. He didn't come in right away but I could feel his pull, and I knew he was near.

"He's here," I said gathering my thing. Leticia whispered, "That's just weird."

"Yeah," I agreed, kissing and hugging the ladies goodbye and heading out the side door. I called to Quil once I was outside, but got no response. A few seconds later he came running forward.

"Sorry, I was just about to leave, you sounded like you were having fun," he said, frowning.

He had removed the white button-up he wore to the wedding and his black formal pants, which we had to buy and the Big and Tall, we riding low on his hips. My heart raced at the sight of him and I stepped forward, intending on showing him just how much I wanted him. I yawned loudly though, a general mood killer and he picked me up, placing a small kiss on my earlobe before saying, "Come on, I'll take you home."

I snuggled into his chest and sighed, it was Saturday, which meant I was free to stay with him and sleep in peace. Every weeknight away from him I spent tossing and turning, missing my heating pad like mad, but he and my mom agreed school nights were meant to be spent at home.

"So you going to tell me what happened?" I asked when we finally arrived at his house. I made my way into his room, grabbing my pajamas and changing quickly, sitting on the corner of his bed, waiting for him to return from the bathroom.

Quil had no cuts or bruises, so I guessed there wasn't a confrontation, and Solace had come by to talk to Leticia earlier in the night so I knew he was still alive, although Leticia would not tell us what he said.

Solace had come in briefly and talked to us, but he said nothing about the disagreement, he only gave us a short apology and vanished. He was acting strangely probably a side effect of his pack wanting to rip his head off, but Kim was certain it was something more.

"They're leaving. Solace, Jordan, Michael, Anna, Phil, Krys… they're all moving to Seattle," he said dryly. "They've already left actually. Seth saw them go."

"What?" I was in shock, I couldn't believe it.

"Anna stayed behind to tell us, but I think she's gone by now too. Sam says their apartments have been cleared out." Tears filled my eyes without my permission and I sat stupidly staring at him with my eyes wet and red.

"They left?" I sobbed, the air coming out too fast.

"Yeah," he said dropping on the bed next to me.

"What does that even mean?" I asked stupidly.

"I don't know," he sounded like a child when he said this and I put my arms around as much of him as I could. We sat like that for a long time before he finally spoke again.

"Claire, I'm sorry."

"Why?" I let go of him, to face him better.

"I need you to listen to me before you say anything okay?" I nodded, swallowing hard.

"Claire, I have loved you since the moment I met you. Not in the same way I do now, but love was always there—"

"Quil, please don't," I gasped. I knew where this was going, I could see from his eyes he was letting me go. It was all too good to be true and now he was going to break my heart.

"Claire, let me finish. Before x-treme sand castling on the beach, I was all set on life. I was going to be a La Push protector, the best man at your wedding, the godfather to your children. I had no idea we would end up here, so I didn't take the time to think of the consequences or the difficulties of us being together. If I had, I could have been able to see that we both aren't ready. Not just you but me too. You have a shit-ton of life to live before you should have to settle down… and now more than ever I have responsibilities to uphold. Half the pack is gone, just gone… Jared and Paul are ready to settle down, their wives are already at least seven or eight years older than them physically and I need to be here. The vampire world is really unstable. I have no idea what's going to happen, but I need to be here to protect the tribe and –"

"I know, Quil. That's why I'm staying with you, always," I screamed through a fresh round of tears.

"But you shouldn't, Claire. I want you to go. I want you to go crazy, within reason, in Europe. See everything, go everywhere. I'll always be here for you, and when you decided to come back I'll know it's right," he said grabbing my hand.

"And what if I find someone else? Would you even care?" I asked grasping, trying to make him see he wanted me as much as I needed him.

"Then I'll be there too. I'll support you always," he said, his fist clenched.

"Are you breaking up with me?" I asked through deep breaths.

"No, Claire. I'm just, slowing things down," he said calmly. I tried drying my face but the tears wouldn't stop and I got desperate. I flung my legs over his, pressing myself firm against him and rolling my hips. I kissed him passionately and I could feel him getting hard against me. His tongue parted my lips and I moaned, my hands quickly undoing the button on his trousers.

"Stop, Claire. Stop!" He gasped, gently pulling me off of him. "This is soo hard," he panted looking down at me.

"Then don't do it, Quil. We can compromise, okay? Edward said—Edward told me that every couple needs to learn how to compromise, I know you have to be here and you know that I want to travel. Well… I can travel for like six months and not a year, okay? And you want me to go to school, so do I, so I can go to a school close to La Push and commute or I can take weekend classes somewhere farther. We were meant for each other, Quil… and you can't leave me. I won't allow it," I said pounding my fist on his chest.

"I don't want you to resent me, to change the rest of your life or who you are because of me, that's my job," he said hanging his head. "And I'm not doing a very good job of it."

"You're the best fucking boyfriend in the world, Quil. So don't scare me like that again!" I insisted and his head shot up staring at me in disbelief.

"You've been spending way too much time with Kim," he said chuckling.

"So are we compromising or what?" I asked impatiently.

"But you're the only one giving anything up," he countered.

"You have given up your life to protect the tribe; I think I can live with only having six months to lounge around Europe… But if you want to make me happier you would come with me for one or two of those months," I said smiling widely.

"Okay." I wasn't sure I heard him right, so I stared at him for a while, making sure I wasn't mistaken. I hadn't actually expected him to agree.

"We have a year until you leave, things should be almost settled down by then, I should be able to ask Michael or Krys to come down for a month, and I can meet you in Portugal," he said nodding. "And… I think maybe I want to go to school too, part time maybe… I talked to Bella about getting some school records and a new ID."

"No, fucking way!" I screamed, jumping up on the bed and bouncing like a child. He laughed and grabbed me in mid-jump, crushing me to his body. He resumed the kiss he had broken off before and all words were meaningless.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Bonus- Inside Helen

* * *

Helen's POV

With Nessie's eventful wedding reception out of the way, I was so ready to kick back and relax with the girls. I hopped in the Suburban with Claire, playing with her hair as we drove back toward La Push. The seven of us wolf-girls drove in silence, a bit awkwardly considering we had a half-vampire we didn't know sitting in the passenger seat.

When we finally got to the house we sat around the table, passing out drinks and snacks. I sat between vamp-girl and Claire, who kept looking at her from the corner of her eye.

"So tell us about yourself, Butterscotch," Kim said shuffling the deck of cards.

Kim cracks me up; I'm not much for laughing out loud, but pretty much everything Kim says makes me laugh… internally. I grew up in a big family (six siblings and two parents), so when it comes to groups I tend to be the quiet one. There are a lot of misconceptions about quiet people: shy, weak, timid, submissive. That's definitely not me. I just prefer not to have to scream to be heard.

The wolf-girls were assembled in Kim's kitchen and with the exception of Nessie, we were all here. Our group was growing rapidly: Kim, Claire, Emily, Rachel, and I were now joined by Natalia and Leticia, Embry's half-vampire imprint with an attitude. Natalia had been around for years, but this was the first gathering we had where we didn't have to watch everything we said, or more correctly, they didn't have to watch everything they said.

Natalia sat the farthest away from Leticia, she obviously was not thrilled with her, but I sort of liked Leticia; she was spunky and head strong, even though her accent was at times impossible to understand. I wondered exactly how that was going to work with Embry who, let's face it, is extraordinarily attractive but not very bright.

"Batter-scott?" Leticia asked looking at Kim confused.

"Butterscotch, it's a candy and a color. I think she's referring to your skin tone," Emily tried to explain. Emily is such a mother; she would be the one to explain Kim's ridiculous nick-name.

"No Butterscotch? Hmm… I'lll think of a better nickname later," Kim said dealing out the cards.

"Vell, I usually find calling someone by their name vorks fine," Leticia said smirking.

"Well, in most cases that's true but one, I can't pronounce your name worth a damn and two, you're a wolf-girl now and wolf girls all get wolf-girl pack names," Kim said pointing to Rachel, "that's Teach," and Rachel waved. I smiled, we hadn't done an introduction in years, and in fact I have never done an introduction, because the last introduction to the wolf-girl pack was my own, eight years ago.

"Over there we got Momma Bear, or just Bear for short," she said gesturing to Emily who tipped an imaginary hat. I hated the nick-name, I always thought it was a little morbid to call her Bear, but Emily held the name with pride, which gave me a lot more respect for her.

Kim giggled and turned to me, and I smiled in preparation. "This here is Mistress," she said and I saluted her like an army general. I had years of practice growing up as an army brat. My nickname was a joke, sort of— I was rechristened (my original name being Librarian, the only decent job I could find) by Kim after about two years of living in La Push.

It referred to my sexual habits, or our sexual habits, Collin and I. Natalia and Leticia didn't ask any questions about it like Claire had, to which I was grateful. I was not ashamed of my lifestyle, but it's generally awkward to explain you're more of a leather-and-chains, than a roses-and-feathers kind of girl.

"Our newest fully pledged member, Princess-Claire," she said pointing at Claire who nodded solemnly. Claire is an adorable girl, immature and bizarre at times, but probably one of the best teenagers around. She was probably the luckiest of us all, because in the end, she will not have spent a day in her life without knowing the love of her imprint. "And now we've got two more recruits, Miss Natalia here is finally in on the secret and—"

"And you?" Leticia interrupted. "What's your nick-name?"

"Well most people call me Bitch but—"

"She's Doc, its short for The Love Doctor. If you ever have any problems with Embry she's the girl to go to," Rachel cut in chuckling.

"I got it, Natalia, how about-"

"I am not going to have any problems with Embry, because I do not intend on having any sort of relationship with him," Leticia said dryly. Kim and Emily both laughed, and I mentally joined—she obviously had no idea what she was dealing with.

Imprinting, the bizarre completely unscientific and irrational connection between shape-shifters and their other-halves was basically unavoidable. Once they found you, touched you, held you, kissed you and well… you were stuck, falling harder and more deeply in love with them then you ever wanted to.

Collin, my world, was the last thing I wanted when I came to La Push. I had one bag and a guitar when I arrived here, running away from my life at the Maxwell-Gunter military base in Montgomery, Alabama. La Push was not my ultimate destination, but I got a job at a bar on the outskirts of town, a good way for a cute teenager with a fake ID to make enough money to hop the border into Canada.

I never made it to Vancouver, where I was set to work in an S&M store owned by an online friend and perform on the streets for extra cash. I had it all figure out when Collin came into my bar, dragged by Phil and Solace and my stars realigned, fate cannot be messed with.

"You haven't met him yet, he's very sweet," I said patting Leticia's hand.

"I am already interested in someone and I like him very much," she said defensively, and I didn't have to ask to know who she was talking about. Solace had that effect on girls, the ability to make every girl feel like the center of the world, even if it was only for one night.

"Who? Solace?" Rachel asked. I knew where this conversation was going and I cringed. I hated when we did this, when we talked about Solace. Not because I still had feelings for him, that boat had sailed years ago, but because I know him, I understand him, I connected with him. They judged him so harshly without the slightest idea of where he was coming from. I did. I do. That's what attracted me to him in the first place—the sadness in his eyes.

"Yes," Leticia said coolly.

It has been an interesting hobby of mine for the last eight years, evaluating the girls Solace chooses to bed. There was no mold, they varied widely in height, weight, age, ethnicity, and nationality, there was even one I was sure had once been a guy—but they all had one thing in common, he liked them broken, like him.

Leticia was a beautiful girl, possibly the most beautiful of his conquest (although Tina the Filipino, possible-transsexual was quite a looker). Leticia had ridiculously long and curly brown hair with reddish undertones and flawless lightly tanned skin that was remarkably similar to butterscotch. Her two colored David Bowie-eyes were freaky but memorable and I wondered exactly what he saw in them that attracted him.

Solace was not a man of superficials, I had seen him attached to more than my fair-share of plain Jane's but to him they were all special, and that's what they didn't understand. Solace was not a man on a mission to get his nut-off in every girl he met; he was not a collector, he was a connoisseur of lost souls, connecting however momentarily, with kindred spirits.

"Butterscotch, you're just another stop on the Solace Train. Natalia's been there, Helen too," Kim winked.

"Could we not go down that road again," I cried, putting my head in my hands.

"No fucking way!" Claire screamed, and I sighed— there was no way around it, I was going to have to tell the story again for the newest members of the wolf-girl pack.

"Yes _way_. I met Solace before the rest of the pack in the summer of 2012, I was 17 years old and I came to La Push on my way to Canada." I hoped that was all I needed to say but Leticia was much too interested in Solace to leave it at that.

"And then what?" She said her arms crossed. I hated going into long narratives, but I could see Claire was hopping in her seat for more.

"Then we a few weeks together before I met Collin—the end," I finished my eyes begging Natalia to tell her tale. No such luck.

"Wait, okay, so Solace has been with someone for more than one week? Longest I've ever seen was 9 days with that Filipino who had the huge hands!" Claire screamed with laughter, and I couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"Nine days," Leticia exclaimed, but with her accent it sounded more like 'des'.

"Yes, the ten-day streak," Emily said nodding in complete seriousness.

"Ten days? But ju just said nine days," Leticia looked confused.

"Yea, she means they're all gone before ten days. He sucks, fucks and well, no rhyming for he throws them out," Kim said bluntly. Kim was quickly starting to piss Leticia off; her eyes were wide and fierce.

"Vell, not many girls are as beautiful as me," she said this without any sort of smugness and I smiled. If anyone else had said it I would have rolled my eyes, but with Leticia it seemed sort of natural.

"Yes you're gorgeous, but so is Embry," Emily said, but it didn't sound too convincing.

There was a knock on the door then and Natalia opened it, giggling awkwardly as Solace walked in. I smiled at him and he nodded, his eyes warming slightly. Leticia didn't allow him to come all the way in, she grabbed him and dragged him out behind her.

Natalia met Seth about seven years ago when she came to the rez as a first year teacher. Other than me and Claire she was the youngest of the crew, and she was also the only one who hadn't been imprinted on. She came from New Mexico via Chicago, the fine points were fuzzy and I didn't ask questions, but I knew a few things.

She's was feminist, something she has taught Seth all about, he's definitely the cutest feminist on the west coast.

She is the most politically correct person I have ever met in my life.

She went to Cornell, but she isn't an Ivy League snob, she was the first in her family to go to college, which probably had something to do with it.

She was quiet like me, but in a different way; I'm quiet because well, that's how I've always been. Natalia though, she quiet because she just doesn't have anything to say, unless she's with Seth. It's sad really, she's sweet but she doesn't really belong here; a weird thought for me considering I never thought I'd belong anywhere before coming here.

Sometimes, when I don't have anything else to do I wonder what's going to happen when Seth imprints. That sounds really terrible when I say it like that, I mean I don't want him to imprint, but he's going to. They all will, fate has it sealed, how else would an army-brat from Alabama end up in a bar in the Olympic Peninsula?

"So, whattya think? Does Embry have a shot with Latin-American Barbie? She's not normal, I don't think the imprint's going to work on her," Kim said as Emily cleared the chips from the center of the table. She always won, well when Rach wasn't cheating.

"I'd put twenty on Embry," Emily said giggling.

"No. If Solace actually likes her, wants to keep her, Embry has no chance," Natalia said knowingly.

"I've got fifty on Embry," Claire cut in, shuffling the deck elaborately as Leticia and Solace returned.

"I'm with Kim, Embry's definitely hot, but imprint rules are not working on this girl. I saw it when he imprinted, it was right before the ceremony and we were taking our seat. Embry got that whole stupid frozen look and Leticia didn't even blink. Her eyes graze over him for like a second and she just walked away without a second glance," Rachel said shrugging.

No one mentioned Embry again, as they reentered the room. Solace brought another seat to the table and placed it in between Leticia and me examining her closely as she interacted with Kim. I leaned into him, preparing to talk, but he shot me a sad look and stood, saying goodbye and walking away. It didn't feel right, but I didn't say anything, I just watched as he left.

"Butterscotch, how's Solace in the sheets?" Kim asked winking.

"What does that even mean?" Leticia glared at Kim.

"Doc, don't confuse her, she's ESL," Claire said sweetly.

"She wants to know if Solace is good in bed. If sex with Solace is good and so do I, actually," Rachel said smiling brightly.

It was just weird to hear a school teacher talking about sex—but then I was a librarian with my own set of shackles, so who was I to judge? Leticia stared at her a long time and I thought she was going to snap or maybe say something smart, but she just smiled.

"Amazing! The best I've ever had, and I'm two hundred and fourteen years old," she said with a grin.

"The best?" Emily asked skeptically, and I felt the need to defend Solace's art.

"Definitely the best," skills-wise at least, I added in my head. Emily, Rachel and Kim all turned to me in shock and I kicked myself for opening up this can of worms.

"If any of you mentions this to your husbands, or fiancés I'll hurt you!" I warned using my bedroom voice, Emily actually flinched, but Kim just shrugged, taking a swig of beer.

"Wait, aren't you pregnant?" Emily asked suddenly realizing something I guessed a week ago. Kim was not pregnant… although I think I am, which is why I haven't drunk even a mouthful of alcohol in a month.

I'm only twenty six years old and I don't really want children, but I know if I am pregnant I would have to keep it—mostly because it was Collin's. I didn't tell anyone my fears and I was too afraid to take a pregnancy test. Someone would notice it eventually, after the first two or so months your blood changes and one of the wolves would be able to smell it, which of course was the best pregnancy test around.

"Oh god, Emily, where have you been? No, I'm not pregnant, but Jared doesn't know so I still have a week or so before I have to get knocked up," Kim was quite the strategist.

"The best ever?" Rachel asked Leticia still in shock. I giggled at that, we all knew Rachel thought the world revolved around Paul and his package, so it wouldn't be easy for her to believe there was anyone better.

"Oh that's just weird. Two hundred and fourteen?" Kim exclaimed, lighting a cigarette. I looked at it longingly, I had given up cigarettes two years ago, and even if I wanted to start up again, I was pretty certain I couldn't for another nine months.

"Yes, I was born in 1806 near Asunción," Leticia was smiling warmly for the first time tonight. I tried to mimic her smile but with my mind on my possible pregnancy I was sure it came out more like a grimace. Kim the insightful lady that she was, noticed and I'm sure noted for future questioning.

"Where?" Emily asked confused.

"Paraguay," Natalia and Claire said at the same time.

"Wow, that's exotic," Emily said warmly.

"It's quaint. I have not been back there, to my home, in a very long time. My sisters Giselle, Marissa, and I travelled with our father for many years," she was frowning and I couldn't help but question.

"What happened?" I asked, but then felt like an ass, obviously something bad happened.

"The Volturi found us outside of Normandy, Marissa could not just stand by and watch as our father vas killed, so she went with him," Leticia said miserably.

"Where's Giselle now?" Emily asked clearing out yet another win.

"She was at the ceremony but she lives now with her mate. Ve do not travel together anymore."

"So you're alone?" Emily asked her voice betraying her sympathy.

"Vell, yes. I do not mind, I have grown used to this lifestyle."

"But now you don't have to," Claire said cheerily, she was so positive, it was a little weird, teenagers were supposed to be angsty and not bubbly. "Embry is great, he's hot and funny and he's immortal too, so you two can spend the rest of your lives together, that's super lucky," Claire said without taking breath.

"Yes, so lucky," Leticia said sarcastically and Natalia turned to her, saying something in Spanish I was not equipped to understand. I took Spanish in high school but ask me to translate the conversations between Seth and Natalia and you would get a transcript of: _ he _ we _ said _.

Growing up my father was stationed in many part of the world and I speak semi-fluent French and Japanese. Spanish though went over my head. They conversed quietly for a while before Leticia seemed to get huffy and Natalia returned to being silent. Around midnight I started to worry about Collin, he didn't usually stay away from me for this long unless he had too.

"He's here," Claire said standing quickly and I knew she meant Quil.

She kissed and hugged us all good-bye, even Leticia who looked stunned, and headed out the door. I followed soon after, heading back to the small apartment we shared with Brady, wondering how exactly we were going to fit a baby in a two bedroom apartment already bursting at the seams with two giant werewolves.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Bonus: Embry and Leticia

* * *

 **Ambivalence: The state of feeling two conflicting emotions at the same time.**

 _(Leticia: September 2nd 2020)_

"How selfish and arrogant of you!" I screamed at him, wishing I knew more adjectives for 'macho asshole'.

"What did I do?" Embry asked his face scrunched in confusion. He looked so stupid and cute when he did that I didn't have the heart to stay mad, which made me even more mad—at myself.

"You assume that I will choose you. You sent him away, as if that will end everything. You do not own me, Embry," he smirked when I said his name, my accent made it difficult to say properly and I was back to being mad at him.

"No, I don't own you. You own me. I'm yours, I was made for you," he said with his cute smirk and I got butterflies in my stomach—I wanted to punch him for that, for making me feel. These shapeshifters were putting me in an emotional rollercoaster and I wanted off.

"Vell, I don't want you," I shot back. Then I saw his face, the pain in his eyes and I instantly regretted it.

"I love you, I'm not going to stop. It's endless and permanent, Leticia." I loved the way he spoke, the way he said my name, but I just wished he didn't say half of the things he did, they were always so wrong. He didn't know me, how could he love me?

"No, this is the problem. I don't want you to love me because you have to. I want you to love me because I'm smart and beautiful and I'm a good being and-and-" I didn't even know how to finish, so I just stood there looking stupid till he moved closer. His big warm hand settled on the small of my back, making me arch involuntarily into him; I could feel my heart becoming erratic.

"I do think you're smart and definitely beautiful," he breathed in my ear and I shivered. The sound of his voice was soothing and I smiled reluctantly.

This imprinting thing was not natural, the mix of emotions was impossible. I forced myself to frown and step away.

I don't like to be ruled by magic, by things out of my power. I am an independent woman and I'm not going let anything make me love anyone… even if he was adorable.

 _(Embry: September 4th 2020)_

"You're just leaving?" Even the words coming past my lips hurt.

Leaving.

Leaving me.

My imprint is leaving me, and doesn't want me. I'm the worst excuse for a shapeshifter in the history of time. How is it that for years I avoided this whole imprinting game and now I'd do anything to keep it?

"Yes, Embry. I'm sorry. Please don't look at me like that! I have lived alone for forty years. You can't expect me to just come and be your housewife," she started at a scream but ended softly, her beautiful eyes blazing on me.

"You've been here for five days! Leticia, please. I don't want a housewife, I want you, just like you are. Please, please. Don't go," I threw all pride out the window, I would beg her until I had nothing left.

"Embry. Don't make me say it," she said touching my face. I warmed all over, like the hottest fever at her touch. I leaned into it, turning my head slightly to brush my lips to kiss her palm.

"Say it."

"I want to be with him. I want to be with Solas."

The words took the air out of my lungs. I had a feeling, no, I knew that's why she was leaving but I wasn't ready to hear it. I thought I was. I thought that if she told me that's what she wanted, that I knew it would make her happy, that I would be happy.

I wasn't. I couldn't be happy. I was empty. I could never be happy without her.

 _(Solace: September 4th 2020)_

I smelled her before she knocked on my door. She smelled amazing— like fresh peaches and rain, almost intoxicating. I sat on the bed in my tiny new apartment, inhaling Leticia's sweet scent as she contemplated knocking on the door.

I looked around my place, it was clean and I stood, straightening myself out— then kicked myself for doing it. I never preened and polished myself for a lady and furthermore, she was Embry's. I knew it.

That's why I left. It's not like I cared where I lived, in fact, I wouldn't admit it to anyone (not even Phil), but I loved the pack, they were the only family I ever had and I fucked it up. I fuck everything up and Leticia wouldn't be any different.

"Solas, just open the goddamn door." I love when she said my name, her sing-song voice smoothly creating a melody. I walked forward, unlocking the door and inhaling her scent freely one more time before I had to face her. She was more breathtaking than I remembered, her expressive eyes burning into me.

God, she was beautiful, so amazingly beautiful. Looking into her eyes was like—like nothing else in the world. I had to stop myself, I couldn't look at her like that. She's not mine, nothing belongs to me, and I don't deserve her.

She smiled when she saw me, it was a real genuine smile and I couldn't help it, no one had ever looked at me the way she did. I pulled her inside, kissing her with everything I had. It hurt. It hurt to betray my family, my brother like this, but her lips were so soft and sweet, she tasted just liked she smelled.

I had cared for and been with many women in my life, I love women. Their skin, their hair, their smell, their heart… they were amazing, but none of them compared to her, not even Leah who I had loved dearly in secret.

Leticia was like a force of nature, she blew through a room and no one could see anything else. She was strong like wind, but fluid and giving like a river. She made me want to write poetry and be a better person, but she didn't belong to me—actually like the wind, she belonged to no one.

I pulled away and she slapped me. I had had many women smack me, but this one hurt, really hurt. It hurt that she was upset with me, rejecting me—and hurt because she was probably the strongest woman I'd ever been with.

"Ow!" I howled before I could stop myself.

"How dare you leave without me? You don't make decisions on our relationship without consulting me!" She said pushing me, and I stumbled, falling back on the bed. I was smiling though, she had called us— this—a relationship. She wanted to be in a relationship with me. WRONG! SO, SO WRONG!

"Leticia. I can't," I said throwing my head back against the bed again. She crawled up on top of me, her warm body was solid and my hands automatically went up, tracing the outline of her perfect shape.

"You can. We can, Solas," she breathed, her wonderful lips placing tiny kisses behind my ear, I felt out of control, the conflicting feelings of happiness and anger with my own lack of self-control, but how could anyone control themselves with Leticia?

I love her. I am so so in love with her, but there was no way I could ever be enough for her, be good enough. She deserved so much better than me—even without Embry I'd have to leave, like every girl before her.

"I don't say this because of Embry," I said rolling over so we both lie on our side. "Okay. So just listen to me," I couldn't help but cup her face; her skin was like warm satin. "Leticia, I can't be with you."

"What?" She said her eyes widening with clear shock and hurt. My heart sped up and I sprang out of bed, I couldn't do this if I had to look her in the eye. I was too selfish to give her up if I had to look at the perfectly feminine curves and valleys of her face.

"I don't want to be with you. I'm sorry if you got the wrong idea, but it was just fun. I have fun with a lot of girls." _But I only truly loved you._ I wished more than anything that I could say that to her. I had never told anyone, not even my mother that I loved her. I never really felt it—not like this, and now it was bursting inside of me so strong I thought it might break my ribcage.

"You are such a coward," she said standing and forcing me to look at her.

"Yeah, I am." It was the most honest thing I ever said to her, but I still couldn't look in her eyes when I said it.

"Solas, I've been alone for half a century. I feel this… you. I love you, I know you love me," she whispered, her warm breath washing over me. It was overwhelming, my heart swelling too large for my chest.

"I don't love anyone." _But you._ I finished the sentence in my head and she pounded her fist on my chest, sobbing. I would have given everything I have to wrap my arms around her waist to comfort her. It was nearly an hour before she fell silent, grabbing my hand in her tiny ones and placing a soft kiss on my fingertips before leaving without another glance.

 _(Quil: September 15th 2020)_

"I'm going to go kill him," Embry's face was blank; his voice was cold and empty.

"Embry, please, listen to me. I know you're hurting, but just think about it. You can't go into their pack and challenge one of them, they'll tear you apart," I said sympathetically patting his back.

"Quil. If she's not going to be with me, then I want him to finish me off." I couldn't stand to hear him talk like this, and neither could Seth.

"No! Embry, I know it's bad now but you need to think about this. You have a family and we love you man. She'll come around," Seth promised, looking at me pleadingly to add more.

"And even if she doesn't Em, if she's happy then that's all that matter," I hated myself for saying it.

Sam had said it countless time, and I nodded in agreement behind him every time, but I knew it wasn't true. The thought of Claire being with someone else, another man, another wolf… it hurt so bad I couldn't even entertain the thought for long. I knew I would allow it, I would step down if she were happy but that didn't mean I could move on from it.

"I'll go with you," Seth whispered. Fuck! I knew it was coming to this, when she left to find Solace two weeks ago I knew we couldn't avoid an altercation.

"Quil, you don't have to come with me. Seth, you either. I can go alone," Embry standing and looking down on me.

"I'll be there," I said standing and pacing.

"You don't have to," Embry insisted.

"Let's go", I said the adrenaline rushed through me at such speed I felt alive, terrible but alive. I was going to have to fight a brother today.

 _(Phil: September 15th 2020)_

It had been two weeks since we'd moved to Seattle, and two weeks since Solace had turned into a fucking robot.

He had initiated the plans, without him we'd still be deciding if or when we should do it, and now he was comatose. He hadn't phased for a week and hadn't touched a woman for longer. That was proof that something was not right.

I tried to talk to him, psychoanalyze him, bargain with him, and now I was just worried. I sat on the floor of his apartment, back against his bed staring at the door waiting for him to talk. He always did. He liked to look like this loner, silent type, but he always talked… to me at least.

Just as I was about to say something, the door shook with three hard fast knocks.

Solace grunted, the only sound I'd heard him make in days and I stood yanking the door open. I expected one of three or possibly all three of the werewolves we'd moved to Seattle with, but I was faced with three entirely different and unexpected wolves.

"Hey, Seth you—" I stopped when I saw the look on his face. Seth was a constant source of smiles, and he was not a happy camper. He was accompanied by Quil and Embry.

"Where is he?" Embry growled from behind Quil, whose thick muscled arms were holding him back.

"By him I'm guessing you mean, Solace," I never really liked Embry, and I wasn't particularly pleased to see him poised to attack my best friend.

Solace was my other half, a totally heterosexual soul-mate and I could feel my hands begin to shake as I watched Quil restrain him. If this was it, if they wanted to fight, I wanted at Embry first—for Solace.

Solace stood up and met them at the door. He looked nonchalant, but I could hear his breath hitch.

"Nice to see you too Em," he said dryly.

"Solace don't be an ass. You know why we're here, you've broken part of our oath, and Embry has the right to—"

"He didn't know! Holy-mother of god! When are you going to get over it?" I screamed my legs joining in the shaking.

"He knows! He's known for two weeks already!" Embry roared and he was shaking with me.

"And I haven't seen her in two weeks," Solace said very evenly.

"Then where the fuck is she?" Embry demanded, his caveman thing was wearing thin. I didn't want to hurt Quil or Seth, but I was itching to get my claws in Embry. If not because he was acting like a dick then to break the imprint, because if there was anyone who deserved to have love it was Solace.

"I have no idea where she is. I thought she would go back to you." At that Embry shot Solace a look of disbelief so strong that I got even more disgusted with him. If there was one thing about Solace that was certain was that he didn't lie, he was one of the most honest guys around.

"It's true. I haven't seen or smelled her for weeks, and I'm here every day."

I hated having to vouch for him, after years of knowing each other, being in each other's minds, they should know he wouldn't lie.

"She came here, I blew her off, she left, end of story," Solace's fake calm was making me uncomfortable. I wanted him to scream, his nonchalance was not appropriate for the situation. Embry broke free of Quil and was in Solace's face in less than a second. Solace didn't flinch, I didn't think he would, he watched him closely as Embry began to tremble.

"If you hurt her I swear Solace I will—"

"You won't do anything, Embry! Get the fuck out of our apartment building and stay out! He did the right thing, she left cuz she didn't want you. Deal with it," I screamed tired of his arrogance. He turned to me and I crouched, ready to attack, but Seth sprang to life quickly settling between us.

"Enough. Embry she's not here, Solace didn't break any sacred stuffs, so let's go," he said dragging him out of the house by his waist. I waved a one finger salute and they were gone. Good riddance.

 _(Embry and Leticia: January 4th 2022)_

It had been 467 days since Leticia left La Push and Embry had long since resigned that she wouldn't come back. He had entertained the idea of tracking her, he even thought he smelled her a few times, but he knew she didn't want to be found and that was the hardest part. His imprint made it impossible not to think about her constantly, but also impossible to ignore her wishes.

So when Embry smelled her from his spot sprawled across his bed he shook it off, confident he had once again imagined the thing he wanted most in the world. It wasn't until he heard a scraping against the side of his building that he bothered to sit up. It was 3AM, just after patrol and he could hear the faint snores of Seth making music through the house.

Tiny hands slowly forced Embry's window, which was already cracked, completely open and as if he had dreamed her into existence Leticia appeared.

He didn't gasp as she had expected, which annoyed her slightly, how presumptuous of him, as if he knew she'd come eventually. She didn't stay annoyed for long, when she caught sight of him, his body cut and bronzed almost sparkling in the moonlight—he was beautiful.

She knew why life had led her back here, to La Push, like an unstoppable force she had been brought here- to this country, to this unknown town, on this tiny block in the middle of nowhere.

Embry didn't run to her like he expected he would if he ever saw her again. He didn't do anything, he thought he would fall to his knees, or burst out in tears, he didn't even pull him to her, he just gawked. He stared at her for a long time, not realizing how stupid he must look.

"Oh," the sound was out of his mouth but he didn't register it. She stared at him in shock—maybe it wasn't the best idea to stroll into town.

"Oh," she moaned, a second before she turned to leave from where she came. Two strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind, pulling Leticia to his warm body.

"Please." It was Embry's plea and not his loose, gentle grip on her torso that made her stop short. She turned in his arms, instinctively wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling herself up the full one and half foot height difference.

"You're not real," he whispered inhaling so deeply it tickled her neck. His warm breath washed over her, and she found herself leaning in—incapable of keeping the distance. Leticia tightened her arms around his neck, pressing her body full against him as he gasped again.

"I'm here," she whispered, her cheek rested on his. She had been gone for over a year and now with Embry so close she forgot why she was fighting.

She had fled because she was hurt, but the hurt didn't last long, and the majority of her feelings for Solace faded over time. She still cared him, but she had given up any notion of being with him, he was too noble and she respected him for it. But she hadn't returned— even though she felt the pull calling her to Embry—because she herself had not made the conscious decision.

She would not go along with magical love, she was above that, or that's what she thought until one night her body succumbed to the draw and she all but ran to Washington.

"Why?" He snuggled his face into her neck making her shiver so harshly he pulled back to examine her. She had been asking herself this question for weeks. Leticia had arrived in Washington a month ago, running to La Push from Seattle at least six times in the last two weeks.

"Just shut up and kiss me," she said leaning her head upward to allow full access to her lips. Embry so lost in her eyes, so afraid to wake up from this dream was frozen still, he could only smile down on her stupidly trying to memorize every curve and line of her wonderful face.

Leticia huffed, breaking the embrace and as if someone has thrown a bucket of cold water on his face, Embry awoke with passion. He pulled her back to him harshly crashing his lips on hers. The kiss followed a cycle: rough and passionate, then soft and loving, his hands slowly rubbing her back in small circles.

She moaned and melted into him as he continued caressing her back. Leticia placed her hands on either side of his face as Embry trailed his hand up and cupped her breast, feeling her nipple harden through her thin tangerine orange cotton top.

"Leticia," Embry whispered, placing kisses down her neck as she pushed him down to the floor. He kneeled in front of her, unsure of his next move; he looked up, taking in her beauty before he slowly unbuttoned her dark jeans. His hands crawled up her hips poised at the rim of her jeans tugging lightly, he hadn't used much pressure but they slid down past her pelvis, revealing a simple pair of black lace underwear. Embry finished removing the pants which were skin tight and clinging desperately to her toned lightly tanned legs.

Feeling the distance between their lips had lasted too long she pulled him back up to her, kissing him so honestly, it made him feel faint. She was strong, it turned him on like nothing else, her tiny little hands guiding him to the bed, pushing him flat on his back. She climbed on top of him—her long auburn hair falling in a curtain that kissed his cheek.

He touched every inch of her bare skin, amazed at how freely and wildly she reacted—her body twitching and writhing. The two of them, two stubborn to admit it, had been thinking about this moment for quite a long time. All forms of touching and intimacy replayed in their head over and over again. After about an hour of touching, licking and rubbing, only pieces of clothing were left; the two pieces vital to finishing their connection.

"God, you're so beautiful."

Now this would and should have been Embry's line, but Leticia staring down at his radiant copper skin, couldn't help herself. Embry ran his hand up her bare legs, gripping her closely, flipping her over and settling gently on top.

"Thanks," he breathed in her ear. Embry very slowly, with uncertain, shaky hand, made the move to remove the last pieces of clothing. She lifted herself slightly off the bed as he slid them down past her knees and off of her completely.

He traveled down her body, spreading her legs at the knee and kissing a path down her inner thigh, his tongue quickly finding its place inside of her.

The feeling of being with him, after weeks of thinking about it, dreaming about it was unbelievable. She was on such a high, her orgasm strong and quick came within minutes, but he continued attacking her sensitive clit. She laced her finger through his hair, dragging him back up her body.

She cried out, unable to hold in her verbalizations as he entered her.

"Nngh."

"Why didn't you come back?" He asked lightly licking the spot directly behind her ear.

"I. Did. Come. Back." Leticia accented each word with a grunt, grinding her body under him with every thrust.

"I thought I'd never see. you. again," he grunted, his hands rested on either side of Leticia's head.

"Vell I'm here. Uhh!" She cried out, crawling at his chest.

"Why? How?"

"Are we seriously, going to do this now," Leticia grunted flipping Embry over and rocking her hips faster.

"Why don't you save the questions for later, no?"


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Quil- Day 1 to 55!

* * *

Day 1: It's true that time flies when you are having fun, and when you are dreading things they just come sooner, which is why the two last years of Claire's high school life were gone within what seemed like weeks. She left yesterday and I have spent the entire day consumed by stocking the store with the help of Sam's and Jared's now giant boys: Mark, David, Taylor and Ethan.

Day 2: Spent the warm summer day in bed until Brady dragged me out, forcing me to help him babysit his imprint Annabelle, while her mother Kim took a much needed day of rest. She wanted this baby bad, but I think she forgot how draining babies were. She's was just over a year old and Brady is terrified of hurting her so I'm stuck doing most of the holding while Brady watches anxiously over me learning all the tricks. Taking care of Annabelle reminds me of Claire and I send everyone into depression when I do my patrol duties, which with half the pack gone and no new wolves has become a daily routine.

Day 3: Paul accidentally breaks a six month streak of phase-less life after finding his daughter Trisha and Kim's son Ethan kissing in Billy's garage. I come onto the scene a little late and I try to calm him but the idea of kissing makes me sad again and I end up running off steam with him till we reached the Canadian border.

Day 4: Leticia and Embry, host a dinner party at their new home and everyone attends, even the lost members of the pack, with the exception of Krys. After opening the hardware store with Michael, Krys found he was quite the business man and subsequent to getting an accelerated business degree in night school he took a position with Samsung and was currently on a business trip in Japan.

Anna big as a house pregnant crankily avoids Michael, who I have been informed she blames solely for the discomfort of the last month of her pregnancy with triplets. Jordan passes out copies of his book "Journey to the Northwest" and Solace broods attractively next to me in the corner. He's a good brooding partner.

Day 5: I Hire Sam sons David and Mark at the store for the summer, the two of them, now sixteen eat half a gallon of ice cream but they only charge twenty dollars a day each so I don't complain.

Day 6 & 7: Claire calls from London the first stop on her tour of Europe. We talk until four in the morning, when I can't take it anymore and I have to go out for a run. Return from my run just past nine am and crash in my apartment which I now share with Brady and a newly single Seth.

Misery loves company— after I wake up and eat an entire box of Cheez-its, Seth and I mope around watch shitty horror movies till our patrol shift and collapse when we return.

Day 8: Jacob and Nessie call me to say they are heading to Europe to visit Bella and Edward's new home in Venice and they will be able to stay with Claire or at least near her for the rest of her time there. I have never been so relieved in my life. It was somewhat of a relief knowing that Doctor Vamp and his wife were in Italy, staying near Volterra where the newly established vampire council was stationed, but Jacob made all the difference and I was able to sleep a little better that night.

Day 9: Missed a call from Claire and sulked for the rest of the day, Seth sitting next to me in an almost catatonic state.

Day 10: I wake up with the thought "170 more days till she returns" and my body goes rigid, unable to move. With Jordan set to go on a book tour for two weeks, Krys constantly away on business and Michael's wife about to pop three new wolflets, the running of the hardware store in Seattle is put mainly on Phil and Solace's shoulders, meaning I can't leave the pack one more wolf short and I have to wait— the pain of her absence growing more and more sharp, until I die or she comes back to me, you know whichever comes first.

Day 11: Claire calls me again, she's staying on a beach in Brighton, England painting in a studio apartment Nessie rented for her in exchange for a series of paintings for the Cullens living room. She cried when she tells me how much she misses me and I bite a huge gashing cut in my lip trying hard not to cry with her. I refuse to let her know how much pain I'm in.

Day 12, 13 & 14: Bed ridden with sadness I leave only twice, once for patrol and once to discuss a possible two week werewolf replacement with Solace. Who seems unhappy, which makes two of us. Comrades in commiseration.

Day 15: All thoughts of replacements are pushed aside when another coven of vampires threatens to eliminate the new vamp council, which consist of the Denali clan: Tanya, Nahuel, Huilen, Kate, Garrett, Carmen and Eleazer, two nomads handpicked by Carlisle named Alistair and Greta and the Dracula Twins, much to the delight of Embry. The pack receives weekly updates on the council, which has much to our surprise, already started to form a guard, although it has attracted more than a few power hungry covens eager to take over.

Day 16: Sam calls an all pack summit and the gang from Seattle all attend even a very pregnant Anna and Leah who has not phased for two years. I notice she's standing very close to Solace and so does Sam and Seth but none of us say anything. We discuss sending an envoy to Italy to deal with the potential threat. I'm the first to volunteer, but all plans are halted when Alice and Jasper inform us that the coven has already been taken care of.

Day 17: Helped a slightly less zombie-like Seth clean out the last of the apartment he shared with Natalia before she left three weeks ago. After Brady imprinted on Kim's baby Annabelle, Natalia didn't take it very well. Not for the expected reasons of adult man finding his infant soul-mate, but because it seemed to click to her then that this imprinting thing wasn't a fluke. She left in the middle of the night with most of her things, leaving a letter, a half planned wedding and a broken hearted Seth. Part of me was hoping he'd imprint on one of Anna and Michael's super-mega werewolf spawn, cuz he's the only original pack member left to imprint.

Day 18: Paul returns to a phaseless life, but is forced to avoid Jared's son Ethan at all cost, including the fourth of July beach barbeque, where he attached himself to his daughter Trisha, effectively ruining her night. I lost my appetite days ago and while on a walk I catch the star-crossed lovers making out near the caves when Paul is distracted by food. The pain in my stomach worsens and I have to go home before I ruin the festivities.

Day 19: Claire calls— she tells me all about her new paintings which she is incorporating sand in the paint for texture. I can almost picture it and I miss her and her beautiful hands ten times more. Jake and Nessie are coming to meet her in two days and I start to feel angry at anyone lucky enough to bask in her wonderful presence.

Day 20: Teenage romance is rampant and making me cranky. Sam's sons, my new employees, now have two tiny girls named Kara and Mallory hanging around the store all lovey-dovey during their shifts. I try to not be bitter, two times the help at no extra cost… so I don't complain even when I find David and Mallory groping in the store room.

Day 21: Had to help Embry in the garage when an unusual amount of customers flood his autoshop. Images of Claire are now incessantly burning my eyes whenever I blink.

Day 22: Wake up to the smell of vamps, apparently I slept through my patrol and missed a massacre of four newborn vamps.

Day 23: Punished by Sam with four weeks of straight patrol for sleeping through my duties on a night I was actually needed.

Day 24: Was bribed into giving an extremely uncomfortable and terrifying sex talk with Sam and Jared's boys by Jared, who promised to relieve me of all four weeks on patrol, phasing back even though he's been clean for a year, just to avoid having to talk to his son Ethan about not touching Paul's daughter Trisha anywhere below her shoulder blades… talk about awkward!

Day 25, 26, & 27: Watched a marathon of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers with Seth and Paul, and started a nightly routine of running to the East until my body started to burn from exhaustion.

Day 28: Kim decides to intervene on my mental health while forcing me to help her plant her herb garden.

Day 29 & 30: David the older of Sam's twins phases for the first time in my stock room, and it takes two days to clean and assess the damage… FYI insurance does not cover rouge werewolves.

Day 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, & 37: Mark, trying desperately to make up for his brother's damage offers to watch the store for the entire weekend with Jared's younger son Taylor, allowing me to visit Leah and attempt yoga with Solace and Phil. I drink way too many wheatgrass smoothies and find I'm not at all flexible, while I start to suspect that Solace is enjoying Leah's flexibility in completely different settings and I start to miss Claire even more.

Day 38: Return to La Push, which I am pleased to find is in a flurry of teen werewolf drama, which pulls me out of my sulking over Claire.

Two new werewolves join the pack Mark and Ethan whose girlfriend Trisha get imprinted on, but not by him but his best friend David. The most eventful and non-Claire filled day in a month, I'm actually giddy, which makes Paul so angry he phases again. Not really my fault David imprinted on his daughter, but it's hard to talk sense into them when they are busy restraining the new werewolves (Ethan and David) from killing each other.

Day 39: Jared's son Ethan, angry that his girlfriend was imprinted on by David and no one but his little brother Taylor had his back, moves into our place and joins us as the third love-sick Stooge.

Day 40: The Stooges head to Port Angeles to talk to Rosalie about a particularly vicious group of vampires heading down from Canada. Emmett joins us in ripping them apart and I take a run until I pass out from exhaustion still in wolf form.

Day 41: David and Ethan who have been affectively separated since the first conflict cross paths and a full out fight ensues. David's twin brother Mark enters the fight and they tag team Ethan, which makes his younger brother Taylor angry enough to phase for the first time. Embry and Collin find them and stop it. Kim, Rachel and Emily argue, Kim getting angry enough to push Emily, and husbands get involved. It's nasty and I start to feel like I'm stuck in a Native American Romeo and Juliet without the cool dueling swords. I'm successfully distracted from my constant thoughts of Claire, but I'm put on baby-wolfsitting duties during a special Ethan, Trisha, David love triangle meeting; being ordered to stay with Ethan 24 hours a day.

Day 42: Ethan makes himself a pain in my ass, doing the most obnoxious things possible because he knows I have to tail him. I leave Ethan with Seth and run all the way to North Dakota before I'm too tired to head back.

Day 43: Anna's babies are born, two girls and a boy and the entire pack, even the warring newbies head to the hospital. Seth doesn't imprint like I hopped he would, but Taylor does… which had the whole pack theorizing the science of imprinting. I can't stand to think about it scientifically when my entire stomach clenches at the very mention of her name and I run East, finding I'm getting faster nightly, making it to Minnesota before the sun starts to rise and I collapse in a school playground.

Day 44: Kill a stray vamp on my way back to La Push, and Seth cooks a disgusting imitation of Natalia's Mexican food that he misses so much. My appetite still hasn't returned but Ethan and I eat out of courtesy and I call Claire before patrol, she is now in Avignon enjoying the historic French town with Nessie, Jake, Alice and Jasper.

Day 45, 46, & 47: The Stooges start a routine of junk food breakfast, opening and closing the store, and cooking terribly because we can't eat at Emily's anymore. Emily's and Kim's families are now at war over the imprinting nonsense and since we are housing Ethan we're stuck with barely edible mush every night. We patrol together nightly in a group of five that does not include any of the Uley's who Ethan refuses to acknowledge.

Day 48: Kim comes and breaks up the Stooges, dragging her son Ethan out of the house by his ear and bringing him home. I decide to run Southwest and make it to Utah and back before morning breaks.

Day 49: Claire cries on the phone and I can't stop myself from telling her just how much I hurt without her. I run to Southern California and back, making it home before I collapse.

Day 50: Kim comes by the house with thanks and a vat of homemade food that she forces me to eat in front of her, pointing out the whole time how thin I have become. I realize that none of my jeans fit anymore and I'm forced to wear the cut off sweats I have been avoiding because they remind me of Claire.

Day 51: Ethan and David make up sorta. They agree to do patrol together but it's still extremely tense. Ethan's dirty images of Trisha are slipping everywhere, but the pack is back to normal or as normal as a group of nine shaper shifters can be.

Day 52: Jake calls me to tell me that Claire seems unhappy without me and I am excused from patrol because my thoughts are so hectic Sam knows I'm useless. I run east passing out in an unknown flat state around 10am.

Day 53: Wake up at around 12pm according the position of the sun, with an empty head meaning either I'm too far to hear the thoughts of my pack or no one has phased yet. I'm only slightly surprised when I see I'm in Wisconsin. When I start to head back Sam and his son Mark's thoughts fill my head. I am given the most beautiful advice I've ever heard in my life. _Head Northeast you can make it to the Island of Newfoundland in Canada by tonight, it's the closest to France you're going to get before you have to swim._ Sam was giving me freedom and Mark showed me the images through his mind of the giant maps he memorized at Helen's library. I thanked them and ran harder, my legs burning the entire way until their minds disappeared.

Day 54: Attempted to swim straight to France but somehow ended in Iceland, which I only realized after phasing back and using the only five dollars I had. Slept comfortably on a bed of fallen leaves and woke while the sun was setting, running southeast through England. I started to smell her, the faintest waft of her and I can't stop myself from running even though I'm starving.

Day 55: Phase back in a town called Le Havre, presumably in France and realize two very important things. A- I don't have any more money with me, especially not Euro. And B- I don't speak a word of French. I end up having to catch and eat birds to keep up my strength till I reach her, her scent is growing and I can't stop myself even though I am hurting. Her scent becomes so strong I start to throb and just when I think I might explode I hear her. "Quil? Quil?"


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Bonus: Wolf Boys Sex Talk

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A/N: This is the sex-talk Quil had with Jared sons (Ethan and Taylor) and Sam's sons (Mark and David). Mark is actually the subject of my longest and most popular fiction The Pathetic Ramblings of a Homosexual Werewolf, which I will post later.

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(Bonus) Teen Wolf Gang: Genitalia

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This was so not cool! I sat in the living room of Quil, Brady-the-pedophile and Seth's apartment wishing the roof would collapse and kill me before I had to sit through this sex-talk with our werewolf replacement dad for the day, Quil.

I felt sorry for the guy, having this pawned off on him when his girlfriend Claire was half way across the world and he was in an obvious state of depression. What's up with these werewolves and their underage love obsessions?

I know that my parents are connected through imprinting and therefore I am a product of all that fucked up animal-kingdom shit, but seriously, a grown man imprinting on a baby, totally not cool! Literally… the opposite of fucking cool.

"Taylor man, look, pay attention! I'm only going to say this shit once! Your chicken shit dads got me giving you the sex-talk thanks to Ethan's roaming hands, so let's get this over with," Quil said evil-eyeing my brother Ethan as he spoke.

My older brother Ethan was unlucky enough to have a girlfriend within the pack circle. Our father Jared, was one of the La Push werewolf protectors, making us part of this huge and dysfunctional family of scary Hulk-sized men, one of which, wanted to kill Ethan for dating his daughter Trisha.

Well not just dating, but mostly for the things he did when no one else was around—we heard all about it of course, Ethan gave play by plays to all of us guys. The things Ethan and Trisha did together were a lot tamer than what David was getting up to with his girlfriend, but it was all still exciting to hear about. I'm fourteen, I've never kissed a girl, never seen a boob, never, never, never… I'm patient though and it was good to know that if they were any guideline I would be touching girls pretty soon.

"Man, Quil. I love ya dude, but you know I've already had this talk with Collin and dad, I'm sorta set on the sex thing," David said winking at Mark.

"Yeah, yeah. Well if, Hands here hadn't gotten caught we wouldn't be having this talk again now would we?" Quil said scratching his neck nervously.

"Aww, come on Quil. I love her, why's this such a big deal?" Ethan asked kicking his feet up on the table, but Quil shot him a death glare and he put them back down again.

"Ethan you've gotta play the field, you can't go around throwing I love yous around like a woman," David advised sagely. Mark nodded next to him.

"Shut up man! I've known her since we were babies, she's my best friend, what did you guys expect? It's not a big deal, if I was a wolf this whole thing wouldn't be an issue and Paul would chill the fuck out," Ethan huffed.

"How would you being a wolf get you out of shit? Your hands were—look I can't even say where your hands were—"

"If you can't talk about genitalia, then you are not the right guy to give us a sex-talk," Mark interrupted, chuckling.

"Anyways," Ethan said archly, "if I were a wolf, I'd be imprinted on her and then no one would be freaking out about where my hands have and have not been. We'd be set to marry and no one would care!"

"That sentence was full of so much shit I don't even know where to start correcting," Quil inhaled deeply. "One, you're like 15, the most your hands should be doing is holding each other's, with supervision! Two, Paul doesn't care if you are wolf or not, that's his daughter and he'd want to kill you either way! Three, imprinting doesn't mean you get married at fifteen this is not Alabama and four, who says you'd imprint on her?"

"Of course I'd imprint on her, she's my best friend, my soul mate," Ethan argued as David rolled his eyes.

"Ugh! Come on Ethan. Your soul mate? You sound like such a fairy!" David screamed, making Mark flinch.

"And who wants to be a wolf anyways?" I asked rolling my eyes. That was just about the last thing on my list of things to do; right after eat mushrooms or perform on Broadway.

"What do you mean _who wants to be a wolf_? I do man! And so does Mark, right?" David said his eyes searching for Mark to reply. Mark nodded half-heartedly and Ethan agreed.

"Fuck yeah, wolf-pack all the way man, it's in our blood!" Ethan grinned widely.

"Yeah, so's estrogen, doesn't mean I wanna turn into a woman," I muttered under my breath. Quil glared at me and I shut up as Mark left the room, coming back seconds later with a soda.

"Okay, fine wolf or no wolf, doesn't matter—we're here to talk about sex and you're wasting my time. I'm guessing you already know the finer details of how that works," Quil said making a creepy hand gesture which made me visualize him doing it with Claire and get grossed the hell out! Now Claire's hot as shit, but it's so not cool to think of her little body being crushed under muscle man Quil.

"Eww man!" I exclaimed watching for the guy's reaction. Ethan and David whooped, high-fiving like idiots and Mark blushed.

"Shut up, look, you know how it's done I'm sure—"

"Yeah man, but aren't you going to give us pointers? Isn't that what this is about?" David interrupted. He is not the brightest blub in box, in fact he's more like one of those mini Christmas tree lights that give off faint glows in three second intervals; Mark was definitely the smarter of the two.

"No! David, just shut up and let me get this over with. This is about respecting women. You can fantasize about and jack to them all you want, but keep their bodies pure till you're both in love and mentally ready for it, okay?" Quil glared at us all, his eyes lingering on Ethan longest.

"Hey! We haven't had sex! She's pure, she's pure," Ethan screamed.

"She's 15! You shouldn't be doing any of that! ANY of that!" Quil shook his head, his hand flying up in the air in exasperation.

"Quil, it's not the 90's old timer, it's 2022. Paul's lucky Trisha's such a prude because there could have been much worse things up her—"

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! I used to babysit that girl, if you say one more things about her-her-her—"

"Genitalia," Mark offered.

"Would you please stop saying that?" Quil said dropping his head in his hands.

"What would you like us to call it?" Mark asked sweetly just as David said, "Quil you're getting the puss and you can't even talk about it? You must not be doing it right. I vote we get Embry to tell us!"

I couldn't help but laugh at the expression on Quil's face; a mixture of revulsion, anger, humor and confusion I have never seen before.

This discussion was turning out much funnier than I expected.

"Oh god," Quil sighed before he cleared his throat and continued, "I can't do this. I give up!"

"No, no. Come on, I want to hear what you have to say about it, Quil," Mark said facetiously. I knew he was trying to get a rise out of him but there was something else about the way he looked at Quil.

I'm not a homophobe, I'm totally down with gays, my Uncle Matt's gay and I love him—I just like to be right and I don't care what Ethan says about Mark's hot girlfriend Kara, the boy is gay! We've got a bet going and when Ethan phases and reads the gayness on his thoughts he was so going to owe me three months of allowance! I might even buy Mark some man-on-man porn to celebrate…

"I told you all that I needed to tell you. Sex is a very serious thing, its fun yes, but it's for adults who—"

"Claire was like sixteen when you guys started grinding, man," Ethan argued. She was seventeen but I kept my mouth shut, no one likes a know it all.

"Yes well we're imprinted, and she was mature and ready to make the decision to—" Ethan snorted and Quil shot him an evil look, which instead of taking as a hint to shut the fuck up he used as a jumping point to elaborate.

"Mature? She still throws tantrums! My eight year old sister Amber—" Quil threw a pillow at him and walked out the room.

"Shut up, man!" David screamed smacking his arm. David and my brother Ethan had a lot more in common than Mark did, and the two of them spent more time together than was natural, which meant the two of them were equally too stupid to know when to shut up. Ethan's not generally stupid, but when you put him with boy-wonder you'd be surprised how mentally challenged he started to sound.

"We're sorry, Quil," Mark called as Quil came back in the room with a beer.

"Quil, can I ask you something?" David said seriously, not waiting for Quil's reply he continued, "How can you have sex with someone so little. Wait, I don't mean like young, I mean _little_. You're huge man!"

"Yeah I was wondering that too," Ethan said nodding. I would like to say I wasn't curious but who wouldn't be curious when they saw the two of them together. She was like five foot three at the most—and he was at least six two and more importantly as wide as two average men standing side by side.

"Are you serious?" Quil asked taking a long swig.

"Yeah, man. I'm sixteen, the shift is coming, I'm going to be as big as you soon. I need to know," David said seriously.

"Krys phased two days after his thirteenth birthday, if we haven't done it yet you might not," Mark reasoned. I agreed with him wholeheartedly and not just because I didn't want to be a wolf, but because the odds just didn't stack in our favor.

The pack was already fully stocked and there was slim to no vampire action heading our way, our children were more likely to join the pack than us. That didn't mean I was going to leave it to chance though—I haven't spent the last two years studying Eastern Philosophy for nothing, there was no way I was going to allow my chi to get so out of balance that I phased. My ying and yang were fully at peace and they were staying that way!

"It's in our blood bro, have some faith," David encouraged.

"If I don't phase by my sixteenth birthday I'm buying a ticket to Italy and I'm going to rub myself on those vegetarian vamps until I do," Ethan vowed seriously. David's eyes widened as if he had just heard the most brilliant idea in the world and I cringed.

"Um… okay. Well shapeshifter or not you always have to be careful with a lady, okay? Gentle, treat them like fine china," Quil said.

"What if they don't want you to be gentle? I heard mom say aunt Helen likes to be roughed up by Collin," David said sneering.

"It's the other way around. She likes to rough him up," Ethan corrected instantly making me realize just how much more bizarre this conversation was than it needed to be.

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that." Mark sighed.

"Is it a position thing," Ethan pressed.

"Yes," was all Quil said before he chugged down his beer.

"Well…" David motioned for more info.

"Well what?" Quil spat, and I guessed he realized that even David couldn't be this stupid and was just trying to make him uncomfortable.

"What is it? Doggy-style, from the side, on the stairs, girl on top?" David listed using his fingers to keep track.

"All of thee above," Quil said dryly and I was happy to see Brady for the first time since he imprinted on my baby sister Annabelle.

Brady walked in and finally ended this fucked up excuse for sex education where I learned absolutely nothing other than the fact that giant werewolves had to give it dog style and that my aunt the librarian was a dominatrix.


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Epilogue: Reunited and It Feels so Good

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"Hey Claire, would you like me to cook you something special?" Nessie asked from the kitchen.

I could smell the sautéed onions but it didn't make my mouth water like it usually did. I hadn't had an appetite in a few days, Jasper actually had to use his vampire whammy to make me hungry but it also made him hungry and he soon had to leave with Alice to hunt.

I was about to tell Nessie not to bother when I _felt it_. I tried to ignore the pull, tried to head to the room I claimed in our small villa right outside of Avignon, France, but I couldn't ignore the feeling.

It was like a heat in my stomach, a pull behind my navel. My body turned automatically and Jacob rushed into the living room where I stood frozen, his eyes wide with a grin plastered on his face. I knew what it meant; his smile, the pull… there was only one thing that made me feel like that: Quil.

I burst out the front door that faced a cobbled path which led to a walking path through the nearby forest. My eyes were filling with tears and my breathing was coming out in deep fast gust that I couldn't control.

I whispered it at first, afraid to be wrong— to have to live with the disappointment if I were wrong, "Quil? Quil…"

My stomach twisted and turned in powerful uncomfortable knots and the tears were streaming so fast I couldn't blink past them. I had been here for a week, a week that I had spent sketching and painting that cobbled road lined with trees in shades of green. I didn't need my sight, I had memorized every fallen branch. I ran forward desperately following the pull—it led me to the left and blinded by tears I stumbled and tripped. Not able to stop myself I screamed for him.

"Quil! QUIL!" I sobbed harder, my chest hurting from the excursion but I wouldn't stop running he was here.

"Claire!" I could hear Jake's calls behind me and I ran faster. I don't know why, but I was scared. Scared to see Jake, to talk to him and have him crush the hope, the beautiful notion that Quil was here. My lungs were burning, begging for air and my legs were on fire as I ran through the forest, it was denser here, I had strayed off the path and although it was just past noon it was dark.

He was here, close—I could feel him, I knew it like I knew he loved me, nothing could stop me from finding him. The days, 53 so far, that I have spent away from him had been amazing and exciting. I had seen so many things, but most of all they were terrible; more painful and empty than any other time in my relatively sheltered and happy life.

"Quil! QUIL!" My throat was sore and I couldn't drag my feet further, I collapsed in a blobl, holding my stomach tightly, gasping for air. I was desperately out of shape.

When I had finally caught my breath I stood, readying myself to search some more but he appeared, as if straight from my dreams— the dreams that I had nightly and held onto in the day.

He ran to me still naked from the phase and I couldn't hold myself up anymore, the emotions that I had been suppressing all flood forward at once. He lurched forward, catching me before I fell again.

"Are you real?" The words came out of my mouth but they sounded all wrong.

He kissed me and I felt as if all the air in my lungs had been sucked out. I pulled away, even though it hurt me to. "Quil?"

"Yes, Claire-bear, I'm real." And that's all I needed to hear, I pulled myself up back to his lips and in frenzied passion I tasted every corner of his mouth.

He held me tight, and I could feel all of the heat from his body through the thin material of my sundress. I realized then it was the same dress I wore the day we first made love and I blushed looking down at myself and then at him.

"Sorry, I'll get dressed," he whispered, but I stopped him, bringing his hands to the hem of my dress and urging them upward. He smiled wide, getting the hint. I tore off my simple pair of white underwear in one fluid motion.

He trailed hard kissed down my face from my hairline to my chin, jumping to my neck and making me shiver as he drew tiny circles on my collarbone with his tongue.

His hand cut a path down my back along my spine and I arched into him moaning softly. He muffled the sound with his mouth and guided me backward until I could feel the rough bark of a tree between my shoulder blades.

This wasn't like our first night together so tender and gentle, his hands were urgent and needy, this was passion and I liked it. I loved it. I nibbled on his shoulder as his hands kneaded my ass pushing me harder against his cock.

"Quil," he exhaled deeply and I inhaled his musky scent like wet forest and cinnamon.

We rocked together urgently, sounds like wild animals escaping us.

I grabbed onto his neck and the forest of greens twirled in my eyes as he brought us to the ground. He kept his arms at either side of my head holding his weight off of me as he fucked me hard against the forest floor. I pulled at him trying to bring him closer to me. I wanted to feel him, his entire weight; I wanted every inch of him on top of me pressing against me.

He leaned in to kiss me roughly, his tongue fighting with mine. I gasped and groaned and dug my nails into the broad expanse of his back ferociously.

I pushed myself in sync with him trying desperately to take in every inch of him, to complete myself with him.

"Harder," I demanded, my hand intertwined with his hair.

"God Claire, I. Missed. You," he spat between thrust. I couldn't respond, the pleasure had reached a point where I could think of nothing but release. My entire body clenched and just as I exploded I felt his body shutter and his hot liquid fill me.

He collapsed and I held him tightly, refusing to let him go even as he tried to roll over, I just rolled over with him, resting on top of him.

I hadn't had time or the presence of mind to examine him before now, but I was shocked when I took in the bags under his eyes, the sunken state of his cheeks. I pulled away to get a better look, he had to be at least fifteen pounds lighter and his tanned beautiful skin seemed to have dulled with a slight grey.

"Quil! Oh my god! Are you sick? Are you okay?" I asked reluctantly pulling away from him.

"I'm fine," he assured me, his voice sounding weak and tired. I stood on unsteady feet grabbing my sundress and pulling it on as he untied his shorts from his ankle and shimmied into them. His waist was at least three inches smaller.

"Did I do this to you?" I asked, my hand pressed to my rapidly beating heart.

"Claire, calm down."

"Calm down! Oh god, Quil. I'm sorry, I never should have gone!" I wailed and he pulled me to him again, lightly kissing my forehead and the corner of my eye and my cheek, finally getting to my lips which he touched so softly I lost my breath.

I pulled away, I knew where this was leading and before any of that I wanted to get him food—but he had different plans. He pulled me to him again, lifting me up and wrapping my legs around him. And there was no stopping it, I was lost in his eyes as he pulled is hard member out again and drove me onto it.

He was like a solid wall as I rode him, bouncing frantically, dying for the release I could only feel with him. I chewed on his ear as he helped guide me up and down with his hands securely holding my ass.

"Claire," he breathed as my tongue brushed the perimeter of his ear. I moved faster and his face changed, the face he made before he came.

"Quil, stay with me," I begged feeling my orgasm within grasp, but it was too late—he released and I sighed in defeat.

He eyed me guiltily and I smiled at him kissing him softly. He placed me back on my feet, but before I could move he fell to his knees diving his head under my dress. He flung my right leg over his shoulder and kept the other securely planted.

His tongue flicked quickly over my clit and I bucked grabbing onto his shoulder for support as he circled it with his tongue. I couldn't hold in my verbal gratitude and I rocked forward praising him as he brushed and swirled his tongue along my opening.

When I thought it couldn't get better he shoved his thumb roughly inside of me and I screamed, not embarrassed in the slightest as I felt myself dripping onto his hand. He chuckled and I smacked him, taking a page out Helen's book and roughly grabbing his hair, adjusting his face and guiding him to where I wanted him.

He liked it and he picked up his pace, slowing again as my gasps got closer and closer together. He was stretching it out and I was burning up—the heat from his tongue, from my riding exercise, from the pleasure it was too much. I pulled his face harder into me, begging for him to stop the teasing; he complied and I exploded so violently my body shook and my grip on his hair served the higher purpose of keeping me standing upright. He gently slid my leg off of his shoulder and stood, draping me over his shoulder fireman style and strolling slowly towards the house.

With my cheek against his warm bare back I spoke again, "I love you."

I gripped him tighter, "I love you more," he sighed.

"Prove it," I whispered.

"Again? You're a monster!" He cried, placing me on my feet.

"No, not like that, Quil. Marry me, marry me today… We can go into town tonight. I know I'm young and I have a lot of life to live but I want to do it with you. I don't want to be away from you ever again. Avignon is so beautiful at night, and our friends are here and—"

"Okay."

"That's it? Okay," I said my eyes searching for an argument.

"I can't live without you. I knew that before, but now I KNOW know I can't. So why put it off, if you really want to do it now, here, then let's do it," he said as we reached the clearing in front of the house.

"Oh Claire, that's so great!" Nessie cried as we headed towards them and I felt faint.

I had forgotten, I had completely forgotten that everyone in the villa had super hearing and I buried my face into his chest.

"Oh come on Claire-bear. No worries, I've heard much worse, Emmett does this thing where—"

"Okay, okay. I get it," I said, not looking at Jake as he tried to comfort me; it wasn't necessary. I was still beet red from complete mortification, yes, but nothing could get me down today, because tonight when all was said and done, I would be Mrs. Quil Ateara.

A/N: I have a sequel to this story. I will post it after I finish posting my Jared and Kim story.


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